Sky ends ties with channel accused of whitewashing genocide in Sudan

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Sky is cutting ties with its UAE sister channel, Sky News Arabia, which has been accused of whitewashing war crimes in Sudan. The station is a joint venture with IMI, a media investment company owned by Emirati vice president and Man City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan. It will keep using the Sky brand under the terms of a licensing deal. Sky News Arabia has been accused of repeatedly downplaying atrocities committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which UN investigators say is backed by the UAE. Last year Sky News Arabia sent a team to the Darfur town of El Fasher shortly after its capture by the RSF. They produced a report claiming the situation had stabilised and questioning evidence of mass killings. Its reporter, who is married to an RSF-aligned politician, was filmed hugging an RSF commander who had called for Darfuri women to be raped and telling them “we are with you”.

Read more: ‘We saw so many bodies that we lost count’: uncovering the hidden horror of El Fasher