Sudan has filed a case against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the Gulf state of being complicit in genocide by allegedly supporting Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the court announced on Thursday.
According to Sudan’s submission, the UAE has been “complicit in the genocide against the Masalit community” by providing extensive financial, political, and military support to the RSF militia, the ICJ stated.
“The United Arab Emirates fuels the rebellion and backs the militia responsible for committing genocide in West Darfur,” Sudan’s filing argued.
The UAE, which has repeatedly denied supporting the RSF, dismissed the case as a “publicity stunt” and vowed to seek its immediate dismissal.
“This is nothing more than a cynical attempt to divert attention,” a UAE official said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that the claims were baseless.
For nearly two years, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict between the RSF and the regular army, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and displacing over 12 million people. Famine has been declared in some areas and is expected to worsen.
Sudan has urged the ICJ to issue emergency orders—known as “provisional measures”—to compel the UAE to provide reparations to victims of the war.
“The UAE must make full reparation for the harm caused by its internationally wrongful acts, including compensating war victims,” Sudan’s legal filing stated.
Although ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court lacks the power to enforce them. For instance, it ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine shortly after the war began, but the order was ignored.
Khartoum has called for swift action from the court to “ensure urgent and full protection for Sudanese civilians, who remain at grave and immediate risk of further genocide.”
Sudan’s legal submission accuses the RSF of committing widespread atrocities, including genocide, murder, rape, theft, forced displacement, and destruction of public and private property. It further alleges that these crimes were enabled by direct support from the UAE.
Khartoum contends that the UAE has violated its obligations under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention through “attempting to commit genocide, conspiring to commit genocide, inciting genocide, being complicit in genocide, and failing to prevent and punish genocide.”
However, the UAE has strongly denied the allegations, calling them baseless.
In June, Sudan’s ambassador to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith, accused the UAE of fueling the conflict by supplying weapons to the RSF. In response, the UAE’s UN envoy, Mohamed Issa Hamad Mohamed Abushahab, dismissed the claims as “ludicrous” and accused Sudan of using the UN Security Council to promote the army’s narrative.
UN experts monitoring an arms embargo on Darfur have deemed allegations that the UAE funneled weapons to the RSF through Chad as “credible.”
In December, the UAE assured the United States that it would not arm the RSF after two US lawmakers attempted to block a $1.2 billion weapons sale to the Gulf state. However, in January, the same lawmakers claimed the UAE had broken its promise and continued supplying arms to the Sudanese rebels.