UN Court Dismisses Sudan's Case Against UAE Over Genocide Claims

Post by: Layla Badr

Photo: AP

The top court of the United Nations has rejected a case filed by Sudan against the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Sudan accused the UAE of breaking the UN Genocide Convention by giving weapons and money to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group involved in the deadly civil war in Sudan.

On Monday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said it didn't have the power to continue the case and dismissed it. The court explained that it “clearly lacked” the authority to deal with this matter.

Although both Sudan and the UAE are part of the 1948 Genocide Convention, the UAE has a special exception in the treaty that stops the court in The Hague from having control over such cases.

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Earlier this year, in March, Sudan had asked the ICJ to issue temporary orders. These orders would have told the UAE to take action to stop the killing and other crimes against the Masalit people in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The UAE called Sudan’s case a publicity stunt and argued that the court had no authority to handle it. During a hearing last month, the UAE made its case that the court should not be involved.

On Monday, the court agreed with the UAE. It rejected Sudan's request for emergency orders and decided to remove the case from its list. The court’s summary of the decision explained that, because it lacked the power to hear the case, it couldn't even look at the details of the claims Sudan made.

The UAE celebrated this ruling, calling it a big legal win.

"This decision clearly shows that the case was completely without merit. The court ruling confirms that this case should never have been brought," said Reem Ketait, the UAE’s deputy assistant minister for political affairs. She also said that the UAE had no responsibility for the war in Sudan. She pointed out that the abuses by the different sides of the conflict in Sudan are well-documented and that the UAE was not involved in the war.

In the ruling, the court voted 14 to 2 to reject Sudan's request for emergency action to prevent genocidal acts against the Masalit tribe. This tribe has been severely attacked because of its ethnic background by the RSF.

The war in Sudan started in April 2023, after tensions between the country's military and the RSF erupted into open conflict in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other areas. Both sides in the war, the military and the RSF, have been accused of committing serious crimes as they fight against each other.

The UAE, a country made up of seven states on the Arabian Peninsula, has been accused many times of supporting the RSF with weapons, though the UAE strongly denies this, despite some evidence that suggests otherwise.

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