THE HAGUE: On Monday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dismissed Sudan’s case against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which alleged the UAE’s involvement in genocide during the ongoing Sudanese civil conflict.
Sudan brought the UAE before the ICJ, claiming that the UAE’s support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was contributing to genocidal actions—an assertion that the UAE has categorically denied.
However, the ICJ ruled that it “clearly lacked” the authority to adjudicate the matter and therefore rejected the case.
An official from the UAE expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision.
“This ruling is a strong and unequivocal endorsement of the claim that this case was entirely unfounded,” stated Reem Ketait, Deputy Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the UAE’s foreign ministry, in comments distributed to the press.
Prior to the ruling, Ketait accused Sudan of filing the case as a “cynical maneuver” to shift focus away from its own violent history against Sudanese civilians.
When the UAE ratified the UN’s Genocide Convention in 2005, it included a “reservation” regarding a crucial provision that permits nations to sue one another at the ICJ in cases of disputes.
Since April 2023, Sudan has experienced significant turmoil due to a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The conflict has resulted in what aid organizations are calling the largest displacement crisis in the world, along with severe hunger issues. Famine conditions have been officially reported in five regions of Sudan, based on assessments supported by the UN.
North Darfur has emerged as a particularly intense conflict zone, with the United Nations reporting at least 542 civilian fatalities over the last three weeks.