Sudan has filed a case against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing the Gulf nation of aiding the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing civil war.
Khartoum claims the UAE is “complicit in the genocide” of the Masalit community in West Darfur through military, financial, and political support for the RSF.
The UAE has strongly rejected the allegations, dismissing the case as a “cynical publicity stunt” and vowing to seek its immediate dismissal.
Since the war erupted in April 2023, both the RSF and the Sudanese army have faced accusations of committing atrocities.
The RSF has been specifically accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur, targeting the region’s non-Arabic communities.
According to news agency, AFP, Sudan’s submission to the ICJ states: “The United Arab Emirates fuels the rebellion and supports the militia that has committed the crime of genocide in West Darfur. The United Arab Emirates must make full reparation for the injury caused (by) its internationally wrongful acts, including paying reimbursement to the victims of the war.”
An unnamed UAE official dismissed Sudan’s claims, stating: “The allegations presented by the SAF representative at the ICJ lack any legal or factual basis, representing yet another attempt to distract from this calamitous war.”
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UN experts monitoring the arms embargo on Darfur have previously described allegations that the UAE smuggled weapons to the RSF through Chad as credible. While the ICJ’s advisory opinion is not legally binding, it carries significant political weight.
The nearly two-year war has devastated Sudan, with tens of thousands killed and more than 12 million people displaced, fuelling one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Earlier this week, heavy shelling on a camp for displaced people in North Darfur left dozens feared dead. A local official told the BBC that a crowded market in Abu Shouk, a camp on the outskirts of el-Fasher, came under attack for roughly two hours on Tuesday evening.
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