Sudan files case to UN court alleging UAE is breaching genocide convention by funding rebels

A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, an area torn by fighting between the military and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, on April 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Sudan filed a case at the top United Nations court accusing the United Arab Emirates of breaching the genocide convention by arming and funding the rebel paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s deadly war, the court announced Thursday.

The International Court of Justice said in a statement that Sudan’s case, filed Wednesday, concerns acts allegedly perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias including “genocide, murder, theft of property, rape, forcible displacement, trespassing, vandalism of public properties, and violation of human rights” targeting the Masalit people.

Sudan alleges that the UAE was “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 court said.

The United Arab Emirates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sudan also asked the court to impose urgent interim orders known as provisional measures on the UAE, including doing all it can to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit.

Sudan descended into a deadly conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary rebels broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions.

The war has killed more than 24,000 people and driven over 14 million people — about 30 per cent of the population — from their homes, according to the United Nations. An estimated 3.2 million Sudanese have escaped to neighboring countries.

The case at the world court was announced less than two weeks after the Rapid Support Forces and its allies signed a charter that paved the way for the establishment of a parallel government, following recent advances by Sudan’s army against the rival groups.

The group Conflict Observatory, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and has been monitoring the war in Sudan, has identified aircraft it says carried UAE arms transfers to the RSF. Those flights went through Aéroport International Maréchal Idriss Deby in Amdjarass, Chad — flights the UAE has claimed have been for supporting a local hospital.

In January, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, also known as Hemedti, had been targeted for sanctions along with seven RSF-owned companies in the United Arab Emirates, including one handling gold likely smuggled out of Sudan. That came as the U.S. declared the RSF are committing genocide.

The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and a U.S. ally, has been repeatedly accused of arming the RSF, something it has strenuously denied despite evidence to the contrary.

Two decades ago, the Sudanese region of Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.

Rulings by the International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, take years to reach and are legally binding.

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

Mike Corder, The Associated Press