The International Court of Justice (ICJ) witnessed a heated confrontation on Thursday between Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. It heard a lawsuit filed by Khartoum, blaming Abu Dhabi of disregarding the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide due to its alleged backing for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan on Thursday informed the International Court of Justice that the United Arab Emirates was infringing the Genocide Convention by sponsoring paramilitary forces in Darfur and requested judges to administer emergency preventative orders. Sudan expressed that the alleged genocide against the Masalit community in Darfur by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) cannot happen without the backing of the UAE.
“The direct logistical and other support that the UAE has provided and continues to provide to the RSF has been and continues to be the primary driving force behind the genocide now taking place, including killing, rape, forced displacement and looting,” said Osman.
Sudan has lodged a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague regarding severe ethnic attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied Arab militias targeting the non-Arab Masalit tribe in West Darfur during 2023.
“The genocide against the Masalit is being carried out by the Rapid Support Force, believed to be Arab from Darfur, with the support and complicity of the United Arab Emirates,” Sudan’s acting justice minister, Muawia Osman, informed the leading court of the United Nations.
Sudan accuses the UAE of arming the RSF, which has been battling the Sudanese army in a two-year civil war. The Sudanese justice minister asked the court to order the UAE to stop genocidal acts against the Masalit.
Sudan’s army-allied government, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, blames the paramilitary group and allied militias of perpetrating genocide, murder, theft, rape and forcible displacement. It states that these crimes were allowed by direct support from the UAE.
“There can be no doubt that the Masalit people is currently being subjected to genocide, and that there is serious evidence that the UAE is failing to prevent this and is complicit,” Eirik Bjorge, a professor of law representing Sudan, told the Court.
He stated that the RSF had employed heavy and advanced weapons, of which a primary reported supply chain was from Abu Dhabi through Amdjarass airport in Chad. The UAE has constructed a field hospital close to the airport in Chad, under the Red Crescent banner.
But, significantly, when the Red Cross tried to visit to find out what the UAE operation was doing under its protected flag, the officials were refused entry on security grounds,” Bjorge stated. He quoted Sudan’s general intelligence service, which had determined that the field hospital was a “primary supply and reinforcement hub for the enemy.”