Top UN court says it does not have authority to rule on case accusing UAE of arming rebel Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.
The top United Nations court has dismissed a case brought by Sudan accusing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of breaching the UN Genocide Convention by arming and funding the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s deadly civil war.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said on Monday that it “manifestly lacked” the authority to continue the proceedings and threw out the case.
While both Sudan and the UAE are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention, the UAE has a carveout to the part of the treaty that gives The Hague-based court jurisdiction.
In March, Sudan asked the ICJ for several orders, known as provisional measures, including telling the UAE to do all it can to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit people in Darfur.
The UAE called the filing a publicity stunt and, in a hearing last month, argued the court had no jurisdiction.
The court on Monday agreed with the UAE’s arguments, rejected Sudan’s request for emergency measures and ordered the case be removed from its docket.
Due to the lack of jurisdiction, “the court is precluded by its statute from taking any position on the merits of the claims made by Sudan”, a summary of the ruling said.
The UAE hailed it as a legal victory.
“This decision is a clear and decisive affirmation of the fact that this case was utterly baseless. The court’s finding that it is without jurisdiction confirms that this case should never have been brought,” Reem Ketait, deputy assistant minister for political affairs at the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.
“The facts speak for themselves: the UAE bears no responsibility for the conflict in Sudan. On the contrary, the atrocities committed by the warring parties are well-documented.”
In an earlier statement, Ketait insisted the UAE “is not involved in the war”.
By a 14-to-two vote, the court threw out Sudan’s request for emergency measures to prevent genocidal acts against the Masalit tribe, which has been the focus of intense ethnic-based attacks by the RSF.
Sudan descended into a deadly conflict in mid-April 2023 when long-simmering tensions between its military and rival paramilitary forces broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions.
Both the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan’s military have been accused of abuses as they battle each other.
The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and an ally of the United States, has been repeatedly accused of arming the RSF, something it has strenuously denied despite evidence to the contrary.