AMSTERDAM/DUBAI (Reuters) – Sudan has filed a case against the United Arab Emirates at the World Court for allegedly arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to attacks in West Darfur state, the International Court of Justice said on Thursday.
The United Arab Emirates would seek immediate dismissal of the case, which it said lacked “any legal or factual basis,” a UAE official said in a statement to Reuters.
The Sudanese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Sudanese officials have frequently accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, its rivals in an almost two-year civil war, charges the UAE denies but U.N. experts and U.S. lawmakers have found 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.
“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,'” the World Court said in a statement.
“The UAE is aware of the recent application by the Sudanese Armed Force’s representative to the International Court of Justice, which is 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,” the UAE official said.
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan, Stephanie van den Berg, Khalid Abdelaziz, and Bart Meijer; writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Comments