Sudan sends UAE to ICJ for supporting rival RSF militia in bloody war
The Hague, Netherlands (PANA) - Sudan has filed an application against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for support for the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the bloody war in the East African country that has cost tens of thousands of lives and created a huge humanitarian crisis.
The application filed on Wednesday is with regard to alleged violations by the UAE of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) in relation to the Masalit group in Sudan, most notably in West Darfur, ICJ said in a press release posted on its website on Thursday.
It said Sudan’s application concerns acts which have been perpetrated by RSF and militias allied with it, including, but not limited to, "genocide, murder, theft of property, rape, forcible displacement, trespassing, vandalism of public properties, and violation of human rights”.
According to Sudan, all such acts have been “perpetrated and enabled by the direct support given to the rebel RSF militia and related militia groups by the United Arab Emirates”.
ICJ said Sudan's pplication also 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”.
Sudan contends that the UAE “is 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”.
Sudan requests the ICJ, pending a final judgment, to take a number of provisional measures.
Sudan requests that the UAE shall take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention.
This in particular concerns killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Sudan also wants ICJ to request the UAE, to ensure that any irregular armed units which may be directed or supported by it and any organisations and persons which may be subject to its control, direction or influence, not commit any acts against the group.
Media reports say the UAE has strongly rejected the allegations. Both sides in the war – the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF -- which started in April 2023 have been accused of war crimes. Their leaders have been sanctioned by the US government.
The Hague-based ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council.
The Court has a two-fold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorised United Nations organs and agencies of the system.
-0- PANA MA 7March2025
