Sudan Takes UAE To World Court Over Alleged Complicity In Genocide
(ANALYSIS) On March 5, Sudan filed an application instituting proceedings against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with regard to a dispute concerning alleged violations by the UAE of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) in relation to the Masalit group in Sudan, most notably in West Darfur.
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The ICJ has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system.
Sudan’s application concerns “acts which have been perpetrated by … Rapid Support Forces (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.”
According to the application, 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 application also concerns “acts adopted, condoned, taken, and being taken by the Government of the UAE in connection with the genocide against the Masalit group in the Republic of the Sudan since at least 2023.”
Sudan submitted that the UAE “is complicit in the genocide on the Masalit through its direction of and provision of extensive financial, political, and military support for the rebel RSF militia.”
The Masalit are a small ethnic minority group in western Sudan (and also in Chad). The United Nations reported on several attacks against the groups, including in November 2023, when hundreds of ethnic Masalit civilians were reportedly killed in Ardamata town, West Darfur, by the RSF and their allied Arab militia.
A protest is held by the Masalit (also Massalit/Massaleit) community against genocidal atrocities committed against them in Darfur, Sudan. (Photo by Alisdare Hickson)
The RSF has its roots in the Janjaweed militias, and some of its leaders face outstanding war crimes and atrocity crimes charges. Apart from mass killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence have been a common weapon of war against the ethnic minority group.
In September 2024, the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, a body specially established to examine the deteriorating situation in Sudan, published its first report finding that “the horrific assaults carried by the RSF and its allies against non-Arab communities — in particular the Masalit in and around El Geneina, West Darfur — included killings, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, destruction of property and pillage.”
Several human rights nongovernmental organizations warned about the targeting of the group along ethnic lines. In 2024, Human Rights Watch published a 218-page report, “The Massalit Will Not Come Home: Ethnic Cleansing and Crimes Against Humanity in El Geneina, West Darfur,” commenting on some of the evidence of the crimes against the community.
The possible involvement of the UAE was raised by the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Sudan in 2023 and 2024. However, it was denied by the UAE.
Sudan’s application alleges that “the UAE made available to the rebel RSF militia military, logistical, and all kinds of support, which in turn has enabled the rebel RSF militia to carry out its illegal acts amounting to genocide, and forced Sudanese civilian people to abandon their houses to save their lives and their dignity. In addition, the support of UAE led to a remarkable number of civilian houses and public properties being totally destroyed, including the targeted and widespread destruction of infrastructure.”
Sudan’s application includes the request for provisional measures, including:
“(1) The United Arab Emirates shall, in accordance with its obligations under the [Genocide Convention], in relation to the Masalit in the Republic of the Sudan, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention. …
(2) The United Arab Emirates shall, in relation to the members of the Masalit group, ensure that any irregular armed units which may be directed or supported by it and any organizations and persons which may be subject to its control, direction or influence, do not commit any acts described in point (1) above, or of conspiracy to commit genocide, of direct and public incitement to commit genocide, of attempts to commit genocide, or of complicity in genocide.”
UAE rejected the allegations. UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash commented: “The priority in Sudan must be the ceasefire in this absurd, destructive war and to address the enormous humanitarian catastrophe.”
The ICJ has yet to identify further steps in the case and to adjudicate on the provisional measures.
This piece was republished from Forbes with permission.
Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. She’s authored the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of genocide and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. She is on X @EwelinaUO.