Sudan on Thursday accused the United Arab Emirates of complicity in genocide at a hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.
Sudan said the alleged genocide against the Masalit community in Darfur by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) would not be possible without the support of the UAE.
Khartoum laid out its oral argument as part of a public hearing into its case accusing the UAE of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
The UAE will give its response at 4pm.
Muawia Osman, Sudan’s acting justice minister, told the court that the “ongoing genocide would not be possible without the complicity of the UAE, including the shipment of arms to the RSF”.
“The direct logistical and other support that the UAE has provided and continues to provide to the RSF has been and continues to be the primary driving force behind the genocide now taking place, including killing, rape, forced displacement and looting,” said Osman.
Sudan’s army-allied government, which has been at war with the RSF since April 2023, accuses the paramilitary group and allied militias of perpetrating genocide, murder, theft, rape and forcible displacement. It says that these crimes were enabled by direct support from the UAE.
Last year an independent inquiry carried out by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre found that there is “clear and convincing evidence” that the RSF and its allied militias “have committed and are committing genocide against the Masalit”, a Black African group in the country.
West Darfur state was the site of intense ethnic-based attacks by the RSF and its allied Arab militias against the Masalit in 2023.