UAE Land Grabs in Sudan and Famine Mitigation by Local Resistance Committees
Author: Zihao Guo
March 06, 2025
Introduction
It is 2024 and Sudan is embroiled in another civil war. The deteriorating situation marks deliberate army attacks on civilians and farming infrastructure, resulting in people losing their homes and being unable to feed themselves. Amid the violence, people eat clumps of dirt and tattered leaves, subsisting off meager drops of oil to survive the famine as whole villages are being razed to the ground. Moreover, over 25 million civilians are on the brink of starvation in a country that has been historically the region’s breadbasket.
As tensions escalated, foreign players in the conflict, especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE), took control of Sudanese land. In fact, the UAE’s mission to ensure its future food security through land grabs, a common issue in Africa, has been disastrous, causing a massive famine at the expense of Sudanese people. To address this plight, local resistance committees have made collective efforts to alleviate the famine by offering aid and protesting land grabs via grassroot networks, in lieu of governmental and UN inaction.
UAE Land Grabs in Sudan
Land grabbing refers to the large-scale acquisition of land in global majority countries by wealthy governments and international companies. In the midst of Sudan’s civil war and famine, the UAE participated in land grabs in Sudan to ensure its own food security, as the UAE’s desert climate left it dependent on other countries’ lands for agricultural supply despite its own resources and wealth. As climate change worsened its agricultural plight, the UAE began gazing overseas, seeking to significantly outsource its agricultural production. The UAE’s efforts had paid off; it is currently estimated that Emirati firms such as the International Holding Company (IHC) and Jenaan control about 180,000 hectares of Sudanese farmland.
Through pursuing their own food security, the Emiratis have only exacerbated the Sudanese conflict by dispossessing people of their land. The UAE exploited the war to accelerate its land grabs, signing unfair treaties that took advantage of Sudan’s fragile economy and local marginalized farmers. Under Emirati deals, community land rights were disregarded, forcing many farmers to give up their lands without adequate compensation. The lack of transparency behind the deals brokered by the Sundanese government only further contributed to the farmers’ suffering, resulting in protests erupting in the agricultural state of Gezira against unfair taxes and the northern region of Nubia against government appropriation of land to construct a dam on the Nile River.
The UAE’s actions and Sudanese government’s incapability have contributed to a subsequent famine in Sudan. Once a major exporter of grain and cash crops such as cotton, Sudan’s agriculture sector was devastated by war, with the halt of Al-Gezira, Africa’s largest irrigated agricultural project at 2.2 million acres and fulfilling 42 percent of Sudan’s wheat production. The UAE’s land grabs only exacerbated the situation. Although the Emiratis positioned themselves as leaders in fighting climate change, they showed little willingness to help Sudanese people, prioritizing their business interests instead.
Global Implications: Land Grabs for Food Security
Foreign land grabs are not limited to Sudan; they are a widespread issue across much of the African continent. With the growth of the global population, the demand for food production rises, while climate change threatens the availability of agricultural land throughout the world. Meeting the rising demand in a time of ecological degradation requires countries to invest more in farmers. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that an additional US$83 billion per year should be invested in agriculture by 2050. However, many global majority countries facing land deterioration are unable to make such investments. In African nations, the share of public spending and private bank loans allocated to agriculture is too modest to meet national needs.
Thus, to bridge their agricultural investment gaps, many African countries have launched incentives for foreign land acquisitions, aiming to boost the domestic economy. However, these policies have fueled the rise of land grabs, which attracts wealthy gulf states wanting to outsource food production. Out of the 1,805 global deals classified as land grabs in 2022, 32.8 percent occurred in Africa, amassing over fifty million hectares across Sudan, Mozambique, Cameroon, and the DRC.
Land is far more than a commodity; it provides the basis for food, cultures and traditions, as well as the livelihood of millions of farmers. By depriving African countries of all these elements, foreign land grabs pose a threat to natural resources and farmers’ welfare in global majority countries. This issue represents a global challenge, and yet it has not been sufficiently addressed.
Farmer Resistance
Although the UN has warned against land grabs and set up preventative guidelines as early as 2011, the lack of enforcement and regulations rendered the intergovernmental organization’s efforts ineffective. As the involvement of foreign players led to deteriorating conditions within Sudan, grassroot groups composed of revolutionary farmers have endeavored to sustain ordinary life to support suffering Sudanese people.
In the midst of civil war, without government-provided public services or international humanitarian aid, local-based committees have emerged to fill the void left by state incompetence. These groups have provided food and organized natural disaster relief. More importantly, farmer resistance committees worked to campaign against governmental and foreign land grabs, securing food for the people of Sudan. For instance, farmers’ movements in the Gezira region have called for “no to privatization and no to the sale of the Gezira scheme’s land” by demonstrations, sit-ins, and strikes, while local farmers have proposed to establish unions to address the economic liberalization of land ownership. Hence, the actions of community resistance groups have spurred hope for Sudanese people in their sustained struggles.
Given the incapability of the government and international organizations to provide relief, it thus becomes crucial for the global community to collective support the resistance committees. From achieving a democratic green transition in Sudan to the complete cessation of hostilities, intergovernmental organizations should strive to support grassroot movements fighting against land grabs, incorporate the right of land as a basic policy, and illustrate ways to achieve inclusive food system governance. A democratic green transition is vital not only to the welfare of Sudanese agriculture but also all of Africa’s, as the prosperity of African farmland relies on democratic means to hear the voices of local farmers and prevent further land grabs that lead to more farmland deterioration and food insecurity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sudan and many African countries still struggle from hardships inflicted by violence and land grabs, with the presence of foreign actors such as the UAE. However, hope remains as resistance committees take meaningful action to address the immense challenges faced by Sudanese people in the humanitarian crisis. International organizations should prioritize supporting and facilitating local aid groups, as grassroots resistance has proven to be the most reliable remedy to ameliorate the predicament faced by Sudan and global majority countries.
The UAE’s land grabs, which has led to unjust suffering, shall serve as a reminder the global community that in an era of climate change and increasing global challenges, international cooperation should be enhanced, and one country’s food security must not be at the expense of another.
Introduction
It is 2024 and Sudan is embroiled in another civil war. The deteriorating situation marks deliberate army attacks on civilians and farming infrastructure, resulting in people losing their homes and being unable to feed themselves. Amid the violence, people eat clumps of dirt and tattered leaves, subsisting off meager drops of oil to survive the famine as whole villages are being razed to the ground. Moreover, over 25 million civilians are on the brink of starvation in a country that has been historically the region’s breadbasket.
As tensions escalated, foreign players in the conflict, especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE), took control of Sudanese land. In fact, the UAE’s mission to ensure its future food security through land grabs, a common issue in Africa, has been disastrous, causing a massive famine at the expense of Sudanese people. To address this plight, local resistance committees have made collective efforts to alleviate the famine by offering aid and protesting land grabs via grassroot networks, in lieu of governmental and UN inaction.
UAE Land Grabs in Sudan
Land grabbing refers to the large-scale acquisition of land in global majority countries by wealthy governments and international companies. In the midst of Sudan’s civil war and famine, the UAE participated in land grabs in Sudan to ensure its own food security, as the UAE’s desert climate left it dependent on other countries’ lands for agricultural supply despite its own resources and wealth. As climate change worsened its agricultural plight, the UAE began gazing overseas, seeking to significantly outsource its agricultural production. The UAE’s efforts had paid off; it is currently estimated that Emirati firms such as the International Holding Company (IHC) and Jenaan control about 180,000 hectares of Sudanese farmland.
Through pursuing their own food security, the Emiratis have only exacerbated the Sudanese conflict by dispossessing people of their land. The UAE exploited the war to accelerate its land grabs, signing unfair treaties that took advantage of Sudan’s fragile economy and local marginalized farmers. Under Emirati deals, community land rights were disregarded, forcing many farmers to give up their lands without adequate compensation. The lack of transparency behind the deals brokered by the Sundanese government only further contributed to the farmers’ suffering, resulting in protests erupting in the agricultural state of Gezira against unfair taxes and the northern region of Nubia against government appropriation of land to construct a dam on the Nile River.
The UAE’s actions and Sudanese government’s incapability have contributed to a subsequent famine in Sudan. Once a major exporter of grain and cash crops such as cotton, Sudan’s agriculture sector was devastated by war, with the halt of Al-Gezira, Africa’s largest irrigated agricultural project at 2.2 million acres and fulfilling 42 percent of Sudan’s wheat production. The UAE’s land grabs only exacerbated the situation. Although the Emiratis positioned themselves as leaders in fighting climate change, they showed little willingness to help Sudanese people, prioritizing their business interests instead.
Global Implications: Land Grabs for Food Security
Foreign land grabs are not limited to Sudan; they are a widespread issue across much of the African continent. With the growth of the global population, the demand for food production rises, while climate change threatens the availability of agricultural land throughout the world. Meeting the rising demand in a time of ecological degradation requires countries to invest more in farmers. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that an additional US$83 billion per year should be invested in agriculture by 2050. However, many global majority countries facing land deterioration are unable to make such investments. In African nations, the share of public spending and private bank loans allocated to agriculture is too modest to meet national needs.
Thus, to bridge their agricultural investment gaps, many African countries have launched incentives for foreign land acquisitions, aiming to boost the domestic economy. However, these policies have fueled the rise of land grabs, which attracts wealthy gulf states wanting to outsource food production. Out of the 1,805 global deals classified as land grabs in 2022, 32.8 percent occurred in Africa, amassing over fifty million hectares across Sudan, Mozambique, Cameroon, and the DRC.
Land is far more than a commodity; it provides the basis for food, cultures and traditions, as well as the livelihood of millions of farmers. By depriving African countries of all these elements, foreign land grabs pose a threat to natural resources and farmers’ welfare in global majority countries. This issue represents a global challenge, and yet it has not been sufficiently addressed.
Farmer Resistance
Although the UN has warned against land grabs and set up preventative guidelines as early as 2011, the lack of enforcement and regulations rendered the intergovernmental organization’s efforts ineffective. As the involvement of foreign players led to deteriorating conditions within Sudan, grassroot groups composed of revolutionary farmers have endeavored to sustain ordinary life to support suffering Sudanese people.
In the midst of civil war, without government-provided public services or international humanitarian aid, local-based committees have emerged to fill the void left by state incompetence. These groups have provided food and organized natural disaster relief. More importantly, farmer resistance committees worked to campaign against governmental and foreign land grabs, securing food for the people of Sudan. For instance, farmers’ movements in the Gezira region have called for “no to privatization and no to the sale of the Gezira scheme’s land” by demonstrations, sit-ins, and strikes, while local farmers have proposed to establish unions to address the economic liberalization of land ownership. Hence, the actions of community resistance groups have spurred hope for Sudanese people in their sustained struggles.
Given the incapability of the government and international organizations to provide relief, it thus becomes crucial for the global community to collective support the resistance committees. From achieving a democratic green transition in Sudan to the complete cessation of hostilities, intergovernmental organizations should strive to support grassroot movements fighting against land grabs, incorporate the right of land as a basic policy, and illustrate ways to achieve inclusive food system governance. A democratic green transition is vital not only to the welfare of Sudanese agriculture but also all of Africa’s, as the prosperity of African farmland relies on democratic means to hear the voices of local farmers and prevent further land grabs that lead to more farmland deterioration and food insecurity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sudan and many African countries still struggle from hardships inflicted by violence and land grabs, with the presence of foreign actors such as the UAE. However, hope remains as resistance committees take meaningful action to address the immense challenges faced by Sudanese people in the humanitarian crisis. International organizations should prioritize supporting and facilitating local aid groups, as grassroots resistance has proven to be the most reliable remedy to ameliorate the predicament faced by Sudan and global majority countries.
The UAE’s land grabs, which has led to unjust suffering, shall serve as a reminder the global community that in an era of climate change and increasing global challenges, international cooperation should be enhanced, and one country’s food security must not be at the expense of another.