Is This UAE Security Firm Secretly Sending Sudanese Mall Guards to Fight in Yemen and Libya?

Several Sudanese families organized a protest in front of the UAE Embassy in Khartoum, accusing an Emirati company of hiring their children as security guards in the Gulf country, before enlisting them as soldiers in Yemen and Libya, using fake job contracts.

Translation: "Happening Now/ Khartoum. By the UAE Embassy: Protest by families of Black Shield victims. Victim's sister explains how she found out that her brother is in Libya."

Many of the protesters detailed the procedures through which their family members where offered jobs to work as security guards at shopping malls and hospitals in the UAE, but after they signed employment contracts, they were forced into military training camps and were sent to either Yemen or Libya, where the UAE has a considerable military presence. 

Online, many Sudanese activists are using the hashtag #أنقذوا_ضحايا_الشركة_الإماراتية (Save the UAE firm victims) to express their anger at the Black Shield security company and to call on their government to take action to bring back the young men that have already been sent to fight in the two conflict zones.

Translation: "Crime against Sudan and its people. The UAE is luring hundreds of young men through work opportunities via a company called Black Sheild for Security Services with an office in Sudan called "Amanda for recruitment services" and the "Ameera office". Once these young men made it to the UAE, their phones were confiscated and they were forced into military camps"

Some people reported that young Sudanese men who were recruited by Black Shield have resigned and started a strike, refusing to fight in war zones.

Translation: "This is my younger brother Monther. He's one of the Emirati company's victims. I contacted the company and they said he and his colleagues are doing well although on a strike after they presented their resignation letters and refused to travel to the areas they were assigned to. One officer told me they're supposed to travel this Tuesday on the 28th. 

Translation: "Some of them knew they were going to Libya and Yemen and they approved of it. My friend is one of them. It's not their problem, rather it's a result of the poor conditions that push young people to choose death and becoming mercenaries. It's unbearable for this generation while the Gulf countries take advantage of them."

In an effort to verify the details, some family members of the recruited security guards shared images of the contracts they were issued by Black Shield Security Services in addition to work permits issued last October by the Emirati Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.