Sudan sues UAE for ‘enabling genocide’

KHARTOUM, Sudan

A dispatch from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday said Sudan has accused UAE of being complicit in “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.”

It said the violence on these people was “perpetrated and enabled by the direct support given to the rebel RSF militia and related militia groups by the United Arab Emirates.”

While it has denied it many times, the UAE has previously been accused of sending arms to the RSF to commit atrocities. 

In January this year, the US sanctioned top leaders of the RSF, including Mohamed Hamdani  Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, accusing them of genocide.

The US, however, also sanctioned leaders of Sudan's armed forces including the head of the military government—Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. It accused him of enabling violence and atrocities on civilians. 

Both sides have traded accusations of heinous crimes in the war that has seen at least 30,000 people killed and 12 million displaced.

Sudan filed the suit as it lobbied heavily against the RSF and its support abroad. Suing the UAE is seen as a strategy to force the Gulf country to halt military support. 

However, the junta is also limited as it is still suspended from the African Union for a coup committed in October 2021.

The case said Sudan was seeking the court’s decision on “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.”

Khartoum says that while the RSF is the direct perpetrator, the UAE is complicit in the genocide on the Masalit through provision of extensive financial, political, and military support for the militia.

The country specifically wants the UAE to be reprimanded for illegal arms supply to RSF.