DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — American rapper Macklemore said he has canceled an upcoming October concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates’ role “in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan over its reported support for the paramilitary force who has fought government forces there.
Macklemore’s announcement reignited attention to the UAE’s role in the war gripping the African nation. While the UAE has repeatedly denied arming the Rapid Support Forces and backing its leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, United Nations experts in January reported “credible” evidence that the Emiratis were sending weapons from northern Chad to the country several times a week. RSF sent.
In mid-April 2023, Sudan plunged into chaos as long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders erupted in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions, including Darfur. Estimates suggest that more than 18,800 people have been killed in the fighting, while more than 10 million people have fled their homes. Hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.
At a controversial UN Security Council meeting in June, Sudan’s embattled government directly accused the UAE of arming the RSF, and an Emirati diplomat angrily told his colleague to stop “grandstanding”. The UAE has taken part in ongoing peace talks to end the fighting.
The Emirates’ Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on Macklemore’s public statement on Sunday, nor did the city-state’s Dubai Media Office. Organizers announced last week that the show had been canceled and refunds would be issued, without offering an explanation for the cancellation.
In a post Saturday on Instagram, Grammy winner Macklemore said he had a series of people “asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott doing business in the UAE because of the role they play in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis.”
Macklemore said he reconsidered the show in part because of his recent, public support of Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He recently started singing a song called “Hind’s Hall,” in honor of a young girl named Hind Rajab who was killed in Gaza in a shooting that Palestinians blame on Israeli forces for opening fire on a civilian car.
“I know this will likely jeopardize my future shows in the region, and I truly hate to let my fans down,” he wrote. “I was also very enthusiastic. But until the UAE stops arming and financing the RSF, I will not act there.”
He added: “I have no judgment on other artists performing in the UAE. But I do pose the question to my colleagues who will be playing in Dubai: if we used our platforms to mobilize collective liberation, what could we achieve?
The RSF emerged from the Janjaweed fighters under then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for 30 years before being overthrown in a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes. during the Darfur conflict in the 2000s.
Dubai, home to long-haul airline Emirates, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa and other tourist destinations, has long sought to attract top performers to the city-state in a brand new arena and other venues. However, performers have in the past recognized the difficulties of performing in the UAE, a hereditary-ruled federation of seven sheikhdoms in which speech is tightly controlled.
This includes American comedian Dave Chappelle, who attracted attention in Abu Dhabi in May when he called the war between Israel and Hamas a “genocide” while also joking about the UAE’s vast surveillance apparatus.
Macklemore, a 41-year-old rapper born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty in Kent, Washington, won Grammy Awards in 2014 for his breakthrough song “Thrift Shop.”
