He said he would not perform in Sudan until the UAE “stopped supplying weapons” to paramilitary groups there.
US rapper Macklemore has announced he is cancelling a concert in Dubai scheduled for October, citing the UAE’s role in the “ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan and reports that the country is supporting paramilitary groups that continue to fight alongside government forces.
While the UAE has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to the Rapid Relief Forces or supporting its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, UN experts reported in January that they had “credible” evidence that the country was sending weapons to the RSF several times a week from northern Chad.
Sudan’s civil war began in mid-April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between military and paramilitary leaders erupted in the capital and spread to other regions, including Darfur.
The death toll is now estimated at 18,800, more than 10 million people have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are on the brink of starvation. The International Rescue Committee issued a “crisis alert” earlier this month, warning that the lack of a political solution has put Sudan on the brink of “catastrophe of historic proportions” and the risk of starvation.
The Sudanese government directly accused the UAE of supplying arms to the RSF at a UN Security Council meeting in June.
Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore said in an Instagram post on Saturday that he came to the decision “after careful consideration, numerous conversations with trusted organizers and friends, as well as my own reading and research.”
He added that he had received a series of messages “calling for us to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott doing business in the UAE for the role they are playing in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis.”
“I know this puts my future performances in the region in jeopardy and I would hate to disappoint my fans,” he wrote. “I was very excited too, but I will not be performing there unless the UAE stops providing arms and funding to the RSF.”
“I have no judgmental thoughts about other artists performing in the UAE,” he added, “but I ask my peers who are planning to perform in Dubai: If we used our platforms to mobilize collective liberation, what could we achieve?”
Macklemore said he was reconsidering the show after recently publicly speaking out in support of Palestinians. He released a single in May called “Hind’s Hall,” with all proceeds going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).