Faith Nyasuguta
Sudan has taken the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the Gulf nation of violating the Genocide Convention by supplying weapons and funding to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a rebel paramilitary group accused of committing atrocities during Sudan’s ongoing civil war.
In a dramatic session at the United Nations’ highest court on Thursday, Sudan’s Acting Justice Minister, Muawia Osman, told the Hague tribunal that the RSF, primarily made up of fighters from Darfur’s Arab communities, is committing genocide against the Masalit people with direct support from the UAE. He urged the court to issue emergency orders requiring the UAE to halt any actions that could enable further violence.
“The genocide against the Masalit is being perpetrated by the Rapid Support Force, composed mainly of Darfur Arabs, with the support and complicity of the United Arab Emirates,” Osman stated during his opening remarks.
Sudan is calling for provisional measures that would compel the UAE to use all means at its disposal to stop the alleged massacres. These measures could serve as temporary legal protection for affected communities while the court considers the full case.
The UAE swiftly rejected Sudan’s claims, saying the accusations were “circumstantial” and lacked credible evidence. “Everything said in court was circumstantial and did not meet a standard of proof. No credible evidence was presented to support their claims,” the UAE government said in a statement following the hearing.
Both Sudan and the UAE are parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention. However, legal experts point out that the UAE has a reservation to a key part of the treaty, which could significantly weaken Sudan’s case. According to Melanie O’Brien, an international law scholar at the University of Western Australia, this reservation could lead the court to halt proceedings altogether. “The ICJ has already said that this type of reservation is permissible and constitutes an obstacle to the continuation of a case,” O’Brien explained.
Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the army and the RSF turned violent in the capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread across the country. Both sides have been accused of war crimes, but international attention has increasingly focused on the RSF due to widespread reports of ethnic cleansing, particularly in Darfur.
The UAE has consistently denied arming the RSF, despite findings from the Conflict Observatory , a U.S. State Department-funded group, which tracked flights allegedly transporting weapons from the UAE to Sudanese territory via Chad. The UAE claims the flights were humanitarian, supporting a local hospital.
In January, the U.S. sanctioned RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti) and several UAE-based RSF-linked companies, including one involved in gold smuggling from Sudan. The U.S. also formally accused the RSF of committing genocide.
The UN reports that over 24,000 people have died in the conflict, with more than 14 million displaced, including 3.2 million who have fled to neighboring countries. The Sudanese army recently reclaimed control of Khartoum International Airport, signaling a shift in the battle for the capital.
RELATED:
