Sudan on Thursday told the International Court of Justice, ICJ, that the United Arab Emirates was violating the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in Darfur and asked judges to issue emergency preventative orders.
Sudan's complaint to the Hague-based ICJ, known as the World Court, is said to be in connection with intense ethnic-based attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, RSF, and allied Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit tribe in 2023 in West Darfur.
Meanwhile, the UAE has repeatedly dismissed the filing of the case as a political game.
“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, told ICJ.
Sudan accused the UAE of arming the RSF which had been fighting the Sudanese army in a two-year civil war – a charge the UAE denies but US experts and U.S. lawmakers have found credible.
The Sudanese justice minister, Osman Mohamed Khair, asked the court to order the UAE to prevent genocidal acts against the Masalit.
DAILY POST reports that as cases before the ICJ can take years to reach a final conclusion, states can ask for emergency measures which are meant to ensure the dispute between the states does not escalate in the meantime.
The Emirates will present its side of the case to ICJ judges later on Thursday and is expected to argue that the court has no jurisdiction.
