Sudan Has Sued The UAE At The ICJ For Being Complicit In The Genocide In The Country’s Civil War
The lawsuit is “aimed at diverting attention from the established complicity of the Sudanese Armed Forces in the widespread atrocities that continue to devastate Sudan and its people."
Sudan has filed a lawsuit against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying it is complicit in genocide by arming and funding the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the civil war in the country.
Sudan has been in a civil war since April 2023 due to a power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese army, which fell out in 2023 after overthrowing the long-time dictator, Omar al-Bashir, in a coup in 2019.
Since the war began, estimates say up to 150,000 people have been killed, including thousands of children, and both the RSF and the Sudanese army have been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
More than 12 million people have had to flee their homes, and over half of the population – about 26 million people – are at risk of famine, according to the UN.
There are widespread reports of sexual violence being used as a weapon against women and children.
The UAE has been providing significant support to the RSF and contributing to the humanitarian crisis.
A UN report in January 2024 found credible evidence the UAE had sent weapons to the RSF "several times per week" via northern Chad.
In July 2024, a leaked document revealed that some RSF members held Emirati passports.
The ICJ announced on Thursday, March 6, that Sudan had filed the case on Wednesday against the UAE for its role in the RSF's “genocide, murder, theft of property, rape, forcible displacement, trespassing, vandalism of public properties, and violation of human rights” targeting the Masalit people, according to AP.
Since 2023, the RSF and its allies — which are mostly Arab militias — have been carrying ethnic-based systematic massacres against the non-Arab Masalit people in West Darfur.
The RSF has a long history of attacking non-Arab groups like the Masalit, having emerged in 2013 as a restructured version of a militia that was notorious for committing genocide against non-Arab groups in Darfur in the 2000s.
It seeks to gain control over the region, which is not only rich in natural resources, but also strategically located near the border with Chad, which provides access to international trade routes and fighters from the Sahel area.
The RSF's ongoing attacks in West Darfur have been called a genocide by human rights groups, as well as the US government.
The UAE has rejected the allegations, calling Sudan's ICJ filing "nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt"
It said in a statement that the lawsuit is “aimed at diverting attention from the established complicity of the Sudanese Armed Forces in the widespread atrocities that continue to devastate Sudan and its people."
A UAE official told Reuters that the case lacked "any legal or factual basis" and it would seek to have it immediately dismissed.
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