The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Sudan has filed a case against the United Arab Emirates for allegedly arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention regarding attacks in West Darfur state.
A UAE official, while speaking to Reuters, said the United Arab Emirates, in response, is seeking immediate dismissal of the case, which it said lacked any legal or factual basis.
The Sudanese foreign ministry is said not to have responded to a request for comment.
The UAE has rejected accusations by Sudan’s officials, who accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, which is Sudan’s rival, in an almost two-year civil war. U.N. experts and US lawmakers have found the allegations credible.
West Darfur state and its capital, Geneina, were the site of intense ethnic-based attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied Arab militias against the Masalit in 2023, documented in detail by Reuters.
The UAE official has described the recent application by the Sudanese Armed Force’s representative to the International Court of Justice as nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt aimed at diverting attention from the established complicity of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the widespread atrocities that continue to devastate Sudan and its people.
Sudan has been plagued with a civil war between two major rival factions of the military government of Sudan.
The war began during Ramadan on 15 April 2023. The two opponent factions consist of the Sudanese Armed Forces under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and its allies under the Janjaweed leader Hemedti.
Hemedti and Al-Burhan have struggled for power from as far back as 2019, when the RSF and regular military forces cooperated to oust Bashir from power.
