Sudan has filed an application to open proceedings against the United Arab Emirates before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over alleged complicity in acts of genocide against the Masalit community, the court said on Thursday.
The application concerns “acts adopted, condoned, taken, and being taken by the Government of the United Arab Emirates in connection with the genocide against the Masalit group in the Republic of the Sudan since at least 2023”, according to a statement published by the ICJ a day after the case was filed.
Khartoum said it had brought the proceedings over alleged violations by the UAE in its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, also known as the Genocide Convention.
It said that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and allied militias had perpetrated genocide, murder, theft, rape and forcible displacement, and was “enabled” to do so by direct support from the UAE.
Sudan contented that the Emiratis were “complicit in the genocide on the Masalit through its direction of and provision of extensive financial, political, and military support for the rebel RSF militia”.
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‘Clear and convincing evidence’
Last year, an independent inquiry carried out by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre found that there is “clear and convincing evidence” that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary and its allied militias “have committed and are committing genocide against the Masalit,” a Black African group in the country.
West Darfur state was the site of intense ethnic-based attacks by the RSF and its allied Arab militias against the Masalit in 2023.
The Raoul Wallenberg Centre report found that there were “reasonable grounds to believe the RSF and allied militias are responsible for genocide against non-Arab groups other than the Masalit, including the Fur and Zaghawa”.
Sudan: Genocide ‘against non-Arab groups’ taking place in Darfur
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It named the UAE, among other countries, as being “complicit in the genocide”.
Middle East Eye has reported on the network of supply lines that exist to funnel arms and other goods from the UAE to the RSF, via allied groups and governments in Libya, Chad and the Central African Republic. The UAE denies providing support to the RSF.
Both Sudan and the UAE are parties to the Genocide Convention.
Khartoum requested that the World Court implements a number of provisional measures, including ordering the UAE to take measures to prevent: the killing and causing serious harm towards the Masalit, deliberately inflicting conditions to bring about the physical destruction of the group, and the imposition of measures that are intended to prevent births within the group.
It also called for provisional measures ordering the UAE to ensure that any armed units supported by it do not directly or publicly incite to commit genocide.
UAE seeks case dismissal
An Emirati official told Reuters on Thursday that the UAE would be seeking the immediate dismissal of the case, stating that the allegations “lack any legal or factual basis”.
The unnamed official described the application as “nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt aimed at diverting attention from the established complicity of the Sudanese armed forces in the widespread atrocities that continue to devastate Sudan and its people”.
The RSF and Sudan’s army have been at war since April 2023. The conflict has displaced more than 10 million people, and left over 12 million facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
