Sudanese families gathered on Sunday in front of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Embassy in the capital Khartoum to protest Abu Dhabi's recruitment of their children to fight in Libya and Yemen.

Under the guise of offering Sudanese nationals security guard jobs in the UAE, an Emirati firm called Black Shield has been subsequently forcing those who apply to train in military camps, as reported by The Libya Observer.

Sudanese social media platforms also shared images of samples of contracts offered by the UAE, the documents having been stamped by the Emirati embassy in Khartoum, according to reports.

With Sudan in turmoil following the ousting of longtime President Omar al-Bashir, the continuation of his foreign policy toward Gulf countries by the military has not been well received by the Sudanese people.

Sudan is part of a UAE and a Saudi-led military coalition fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Al-Bashir deployed troops to Yemen in 2015 as part of a major foreign policy shift that saw Khartoum break its decades-old ties with Shiite Iran and join the Saudi-led coalition.

Sudanese media reports claim that many of the Sudanese troops fighting in Yemen are from the RSF paramilitary group.

Sudan has not announced the number of troops it has participating in the war but had affirmed earlier its readiness to send 6,000 fighters to Yemen.

Hundreds of Sudanese soldiers and officers are fighting in Yemen and have suffered casualties, raising calls for a withdrawal. In July 2019, a London-based newspaper reported that officials from the UAE had concluded agreements to provide putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar with fighters from Sudan and neighboring countries.