logo
Sudan accuses UAE of ‘support and complicity' in genocide at World Court

Sudan accuses UAE of ‘support and complicity' in genocide at World Court

Yahoo10-04-2025

Sudan has accused the United Arab Emirates at the United Nations' top court of violating the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in its Darfur region.
'A genocide is being committed against the ethnic group of the Masalit in the west of our country,' Sudan's acting justice minister, Muawia Osman, told the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, on Thursday.
He alleged that a genocide was being carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces 'with the support and complicity of the United Arab Emirates.'
Sudan last month filed a case against the UAE at the court for allegedly arming the RSF, an accusation that the UAE has repeatedly denied.
The UAE on Thursday reiterated its rejection of Sudan's accusations, calling them 'baseless and politically driven,' adding that it 'supports neither side' in the Sudanese civil war, and that there is no evidence to support Sudan's claims. In its statement to the court, it questioned the ICJ's jurisdiction over the matter.
'Our only interest is in securing a lasting peace that ends the suffering of the Sudanese people and brings stability to Sudan and the wider region,' Reem Ketait, Assistant Deputy Minister of Political Affairs in the UAE foreign ministry, told CNN.
Since April 2023, two of Sudan's most powerful generals – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and former ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the paramilitary RSF – have engaged in a bloody feud over control of the country which is split between their strongholds.
The ongoing civil war has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes and diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end have failed.
Based in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICJ deals with disputes between states and violations of international treaties. Sudan and the UAE are both signatories of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Osman alleged that 'direct logistic and other support' the UAE provided to the RSF and allied militias 'has been, continues to be the primary driving force behind the genocide' including 'killing, rape, forced displacement, looting and the destruction of public and private properties.'
Cases before the ICJ can take years to reach a final decision, and so states can ask the court to issue emergency measures that prevent the conflict from escalating.
The Sudanese minister asked the court to urgently order the UAE 'to refrain from any conduct amounting to complicity' in the alleged genocide against the Masalit, and that the Gulf state submit a report to the court within one month, and then every six months until the court comes to a final decision on the case.
The United States in January found attacks against the Masalit to be genocide. Last year, a UN panel of experts found that the UAE's involvement, along with that of Chad, in the conflict was 'credible.' US lawmakers have also said they would hold all major US arms sales to the UAE for 'its support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who the United States determined committed genocide.'
Sudan's lawyers referenced a recent Sudanese government intelligence assessment provided to the court which they said showed clear evidence that UAE-backed arms deliveries to the RSF through neighboring Chad 'continue even today.'
CNN has reported extensively on the atrocities committed by the RSF and its allied militias: a gruesome massacre of non-Arab people, including the Masalit, in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina, a campaign to enslave men and women there, as well as forced recruitment in Sudan's central Al Jazira state.
The UAE has repeatedly rejected Sudan's allegations, with Ketait on Thursday accusing the nation of weaponizing the ICJ 'for disinformation.'
Ketait told CNN that the accusations are 'nothing more than a cynical PR stunt' by the Sudan Armed Forces, adding that it is 'an attempt to deflect from its own well-documented atrocities against the Sudanese people and its refusal to cease fire or engage in genuine negotiations.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'We have to try everything': Vanuatu envoy taking climate fight to ICJ
'We have to try everything': Vanuatu envoy taking climate fight to ICJ

Yahoo

time9 hours ago

  • Yahoo

'We have to try everything': Vanuatu envoy taking climate fight to ICJ

Tired of pleading for countries to act on climate change, Vanuatu upped the ante -- it asked the world's highest court if governments were legally obligated to do something about it. The landmark case has given Ralph Regenvanu a front row seat to history. As Vanuatu's environment minister, he has taken the decades-long climate fight by Pacific nations to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, hoping to safeguard their islands' survival. Regenvanu has called the case among the most consequential "in the history of humanity". A ruling could come as early as next month. This interview, conducted by AFP on the sidelines of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, has been edited for length and clarity: Q: Why did Vanuatu go to the ICJ? A: "We thought it was necessary to take a legal approach to the issue of climate change because we feel that the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) process, which has been going for 30 years, has not done anywhere near enough. "We agreed to ramp down greenhouse gas emissions. We've seen the highest levels ever just recently. We've talked about climate finance. We haven't seen that. These pledges that were made in Paris? We've not seen them having any effect. "And so we wanted to see if we could get international law to actually start to impose some requirements." Q: Has it worked? "This request for an advisory opinion from the ICJ has been historic. It was the first request from the United Nations General Assembly for an advisory opinion that was unanimous. No country opposed requesting this. "It has also mobilised youth. There's this global climate justice movement of youth now, and we have many of them here (in Nice). It's really raised the consciousness and political savvy of youth to engage with these kinds of processes. "A lot of countries would talk about what they're doing on climate change. But when we got to the court, it became very clear that they weren't prepared to do what they were talking about. So it exposed the hypocrisy of a number of countries as well." Q: Do you think others will take the legal route? A: "We're going to have to do a far greater range of things outside these UN processes -- in courts, in each and every fora we can find, to push for real climate action. "We went to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea -- we got an advisory opinion. We're waiting for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the same question: the obligations of states to prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and what are they consequences if they don't. "Along with Fiji and Samoa, we've submitted a resolution to the Rome Statute -- the International Criminal Court -- for a new crime of ecocide to be created. That's in process. "We will continue to call for the strongest action in all fora including this one, the United Nations Ocean Conference. "Anything and everything we can -- because what we're doing is not enough." Q: Why keep going if you're constantly disappointed? A: "Going to the climate COPs is a very depressing exercise. Last year, for example, Papua New Guinea said we aren't going anymore. I could perfectly understand that. "The problem is, when we're not at the table, we're on the menu. And so we have to be there, so people see us and realise -- and hopefully have a little bit of conscience -- that there are these people in the world who are going to perish as a result of your actions." Q: Why is this ocean summit important? "The ocean has been feeding us. It's been our spiritual home. It's been our highway. It has been the basis of our cultural heritage, our identity. We've been surviving off the ocean for as long as we've existed, which is thousands of years. "And we see the change, and the change is impacting us. We know that if we don't address climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and if we don't take serious steps to reverse global warming, but also keep the biodiversity that has always been sustaining us, it threatens our very existence." np/klm/giv

Sudanese army retreats from Libyan border after alleging Haftar attack
Sudanese army retreats from Libyan border after alleging Haftar attack

Yahoo

time12 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Sudanese army retreats from Libyan border after alleging Haftar attack

DUBAI (Reuters) -The Sudanese army retreated from the Libya-Egypt-Sudan border triangle area, it said on Wednesday, a day after it accused forces loyal to eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar of an attack alongside the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Sudanese soldiers, largely from former rebel groups aligned with the army, had patrolled the area. Sudan's military, which is fighting against the RSF in a civil war, accuses the RSF and Haftar's forces of using the corridor for weapons deliveries. The area is close to the city of al-Fashir, one of the war's main frontlines. "As part of its defensive arrangements to repel aggression, our forces today evacuated the triangle area," the Sudanese army said in a statement without elaborating. Late on Tuesday, Haftar's forces had denied participating in a cross-border attack, saying forces allied to the Sudanese army had attacked Libyan patrols. Sudan accuses the United Arab Emirates, one of Haftar's backers, of being behind the weapons deliveries, which the UAE denies. Egypt, a close ally of the Sudanese army, also backs Haftar.

Israel's Smotrich could collapse Palestinian economy by ending bank waiver
Israel's Smotrich could collapse Palestinian economy by ending bank waiver

Yahoo

time13 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Israel's Smotrich could collapse Palestinian economy by ending bank waiver

Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has cancelled a waiver that Palestinian banks rely on to operate hours after five Western governments announced he faced sanctions, along with fellow ultra-nationalist Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, for inciting violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Warnings have previously been raised that Israel's ending of the waiver could have devastating consequences for the Palestinian economy, which is dependent on the Israeli banking system as the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not have its own central bank or currency. 'Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has instructed Accountant General CPA Yali Rothenberg to cancel the indemnity provided to correspondent banks dealing with banks operating in Palestinian Authority territories,' Smotrich's office said in a statement on Tuesday, announcing the changes. The statement also directly linked Smotrich's decision to the PA's international advocacy against the establishment of illegal settlements in the occupied territories, which the minister's office described as the 'delegitimisation campaign against the State of Israel internationally'. Smotrich's decision to end the waiver came hours after Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom announced sanctions against him, as well as against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for their 'incitement of violence' against sanctions were not publicly linked to Smotrich's targeting of the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank and represents Palestine at international forums, including the United Nations and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, Smotrich has a history of blaming the PA and punishing the 2.7 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in retaliation for international condemnation of Israel's illegal occupation. 'For every country that unilaterally recognises a Palestinian state, we will establish a settlement,' Smotrich said in July 2024, as he announced that Israel was 'recognising' five illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank after five more countries – Norway, Spain, Ireland, Armenia and Slovenia – announced they were recognising Palestinian statehood. He has also called for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank if the ICJ ruled that Israeli settlements are end of the waiver could have a devastating impact on the finances of Palestinians, particularly in the occupied West Bank, which has already suffered multiple economic blows over the past two years. The overwhelming majority of exchanges in the West Bank and Gaza are in shekels, Israel's national currency, because Palestine is not allowed to have its own central bank or print its own currency, which means that Palestinian banks are reliant on Israeli banks to operate. But Israeli banks only continue to work with the Palestinian banks because of the government waiver, which protects them from potential legal action relating to transactions with their Palestinian counterparts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has repeatedly threatened to end the waiver in the past, prompting rebukes from even Israel's closest allies. Janet Yellen, the United States Treasury Secretary in former President Joe Biden's administration, warned in May last year that 'to cut Palestinian banks from Israeli counterparts would create a humanitarian crisis'. In July, G7 countries urged Israel to 'take necessary action' to ensure the continuity of Palestinian financial systems. The UN has also warned that 'unilaterally cutting off Palestinian banks from the global banking system would be a violation of the fundamental principles of international law'. Under this pressure, the Israeli government has agreed to extend the waiver for short periods. However, far-right ministers like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have always objected. After one vote in November last year, Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted in Israeli courts of possessing a 'terror' organisation's propaganda material and supporting a 'terror' organisation, wrote in a post on X that he had a 'principled objection' to indemnifying the Israeli banks. The Palestinian Authority should be completely cut off and 'collapsed', he said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store