Sudan accuses UAE of violating Genocide Convention in Darfur
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Sudan says the United Arab Emirates' support for the Rapid Support Forces has made it complicit in the genocide committed in Darfur.
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Then-Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam, fourth from right, opens hearings at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024 (AP)
The Sudanese government informed the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates was violating the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in Darfur. Sudan has requested that the court issue urgent provisional measures.
According to Reuters, Sudan’s complaint to the Hague-based ICJ concerns intense ethnically-driven attacks carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in West Darfur. The UAE has dismissed the case as a "political game".
Acting Sudanese Justice Minister Muawiya Othman told the UN’s top court, "The genocide against the Masalit people is being carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, believed to be Arabs from Darfur, with the support and complicity of the United Arab Emirates."
In January, the United States declared that attacks against the Masalit constituted genocide.
Sudan has accused the UAE of arming the RSF amid a civil war that has dragged on for two years. Although the UAE denies these allegations, UN experts and US lawmakers have found them to be "credible."
Sudan’s acting justice minister has also called on the court to issue an order preventing the UAE from continuing acts of genocide against the Masalit.
The UAE is expected to present its response to the ICJ later in the day and is likely to argue that the court lacks jurisdiction over the case.
Sudan case to be heard in ICJ
The court said in late March that Sudan's case against the UAE was to be heard on April 10.
Sudan's complaint to the Hague-based court concerns severe ethnic-based attacks that occurred in 2023 in West Darfur, where the RSF and allied Arab militias targeted the non-Arab Masalit tribe.
These attacks were extensively documented by Reuters, which detailed the violence against the Masalit people, while the United States deemed them as genocide in January 2025.
