UAE fuelling war; behind genocide in West Darfur, Sudan tells ICJ

THE HAGUE: Sudan has levelled serious charges of genocide against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for instituting proceedings against the UAE, the ICJ said in a press release today.

Sudan, which moved the Court yesterday, alleged violations by the UAE of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) in relation to the Masalit group in Sudan, most notably in West Darfur. It also accused the UAE of fuelling the war in Sudan.

Sudan’s Application concerns “acts which have been perpetrated by an organization that goes by the name the 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 Sudan, 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 United Arab Emirates in connection with the genocide against the Masalit group in the Republic of the Sudan since at least 2023”.

Sudan contends 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 Applicant also refers to the Court’s jurisdiction on Article 36, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the Court and Article IX of the Genocide Convention, to which both Sudan and the UAE are parties. The Application was accompanied by a request for the indication of provisional measures submitted under Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73 to 75 of the Rules of Court.

Sudan requests the Court, pending a final judgment in the case, to indicate the following provisional measures:

“(1) The United Arab Emirates shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 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, in particular:

1. (a)  killing members of the group;
2. (b)  causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. (c)  deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and
4. (d)  imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

(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.”

Since 2023, a genocide has been unfolding in the Republic of the Sudan. The RSF and militias allied with it have been committing genocide against the Masalit group, most notably in West Darfur. The members of the Masalit group, a people mostly resident in the West Darfur region of the Republic of the Sudan, are Black African persons who speak in addition to the Arabic language dialects of the Masalit language. Thousands of Masalit persons from the Sudan as a whole, and especially in West Darfur, have as part of this genocide been killed at the hands of the rebel RSF militia. The rebel RSF militia has intended to destroy the Masalit group in whole or in part, Sudan claimed.

“The government of the United Arab Emirates has sent its own agents to the Republic of the Sudan in order to lead the rebel RSF militia forces in carrying out the genocide. Much of the rebel RSF militia’s political communications and operations are managed in the United Arab Emirates. It has provided the rebel RSF militia forces with extensive financial support. It has recruited and instructed mercenaries in the thousands from the Sahel, neighbouring countries, and as far away as from Colombia, whom it has sent to the Republic of the Sudan in order to assist the rebel RSF militia in perpetrating the genocide,” Sudan claimed in its application to the ICJ. It further accused the UAE of having sent large shipments of arms, munitions, and military equipment, including fighter drones, to the rebel RSF militia forces which are carrying out its genocide. It is continuing to send such shipments, it stated, adding that experts of the Government of the United Arab Emirates have been training militia members to operate fighter drones.

The area Dar Masalit is 2,000 kilometres from Khartoum. In 2023, when rebellion broke out in the Republic of the Sudan and reached Dar Masalit, a week after it had erupted in Khartoum, persons among the Masalit were systematically targeted, on the basis of their ethnic identity and the colour of their skin. All the entry points into the most important city of the area, El Geneina, were closed as the rebel RSF militia laid a complete siege to the city for 58 days. According to the petition, people were burned alive. The rebel RSF militia engaged in extrajudicial killing, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement of civilians, rape, and burning of villages. The rebel RSF militia and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — including infants — on an ethnic basis. They have deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. They have targeted fleeing civilians, murdered innocent persons who were escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies. Upon breaking into the city of Al Hilaliya, a city in Gezira State in the Republic of the Sudan, the rebel RSF militia opened fire and killed 357 civilians, including 212 women, girls and children. The RSF militia has also poisoned drinking water and prevented access to medicines.

On June 6, 2024, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide raised “the alarm at reports of the horrific attacks in Sudan, particularly those carried out by the Sudanese paralnilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a village in Gezira State on 5 June, resulting in the tragic loss of at least 100 lives, as reported by local activists and the media. This attack increases the risk factors and indicators for genocide and related crimes (war crimes and crimes against humanity) in Sudan.”’

“The United Arab Emirates fuels the war and supports the militia that has committed the crime of genocide in West Darfur,” Sudan stated and claimed 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”.

It claimed the relationship of the rebel RSF militia to the United Arab Emirates Government “is so much one of dependence and control that it would be right, for legal purposes, to equate the rebel RSF militia with an organ of the United Arab Emirates Government, or as acting on behalf of that Government”.

It contended that “the fact that the United Arab Emirates has chosen to act through the instrumentality of the rebel RSF militia cannot allow the United Arab Emirates to escape its international responsibility under the Genocide Convention”.

As a result of the direct support provided by the United Arab Emirates, including extensive military logistical support, there has been continued destruction of life in the Republic of the Sudan, through the destruction of universities, schools, hospitals, markets, libraries, and religious institutions, in addition to leading to a lack of basic necessities and the daily psychological suffering endured by Sudanese civilians. “To lift the suffering, the United Arab Emirates must cease supporting the rebel RSF militia. In addition, the random bombing and forcible displacement carried out against the Sudanese civilians, amongst other acts of genocide, and the continued commissioning of these acts, makes it necessary for the venerable Court to indicate provisional measures to prohibit these violations,” Sudan stated in its application.

The ICJ today stated that pursuant to Article 74 of the Rules of Court, “[a] request for the indication of provisional measures shall have priority over all other cases”.

– global bihari bureau