World Court to hear Sudan genocide case against United Arab Emirates

The World Court says it will hear a case brought by Sudan demanding emergency measures against the United Arab Emirates and accusing the Gulf state of violating obligations under the Genocide Convention by arming paramilitary forces.

There is no immediate reaction from the United Arab Emirates which had said this month it would seek to get Sudan’s case dismissed, and that the legal complaint lacked “any legal or factual basis.”

Sudan has accused the UAE of arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which have been fighting the Sudanese army in a two-year-old civil war — a charge the UAE denies but UN experts and US lawmakers have found credible.

Sudan’s complaint to the Hague-based International Court of Justice — known as the World Court — is in connection with intense ethnic-based attacks by the RSF and allied Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit tribe in 2023 in West Darfur, documented in detail by Reuters.

Those attacks were determined to be genocide by the United States in January.

Sudan has asked for the court to impose emergency measures to order the Emirates to prevent genocidal acts in Darfur.

The court says it will hear Sudan’s request on April 10.

As cases before the ICJ can take years to reach a final conclusion states can ask for emergency measures which are meant to ensure the dispute between the states does not escalate in the meantime.