The Hague: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to hear Sudan’s case accusing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of aiding genocide in the war-torn Darfur region by allegedly supplying weapons to paramilitary forces.
The decision effectively removes the case from the ICJ’s docket and halts Sudan’s request for emergency measures. The United Nations’ top court stated in its official summary that “the court is precluded by its statute from taking any position on the merits of the claims made by Sudan” due to the lack of jurisdiction.
The ruling, adopted by a vote of 14 to 2, also dismissed Sudan’s plea for provisional measures aimed at preventing what it described as genocidal acts against the Masalit tribe in West Darfur. This community has suffered brutal attacks allegedly at the hands of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias.
In response to the ruling, Sudan maintained that the court’s inability to hear the case does not exonerate the UAE from the serious allegations. Sudan’s government vowed to continue pursuing “all available legal avenues” to defend its citizens and state sovereignty.
Sudan had originally filed the case under the Genocide Convention, accusing the UAE of breaching international law by arming the RSF — a powerful paramilitary force engaged in a violent, two-year-long civil war against the Sudanese army. The conflict has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions, with Darfur bearing the brunt of ethnic-based violence.
The UAE, in turn, welcomed the ruling as a “decisive affirmation” of its innocence. Reem Ketait, Deputy Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a statement calling the court’s decision “a clear and decisive affirmation of the fact that this case was utterly baseless.”
The ICJ, as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, is tasked with resolving disputes between states and interpreting international treaties such as the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Both Sudan and the UAE are signatories to the convention, but the ICJ’s latest ruling underscores the complexity of proving jurisdictional grounds in cases involving alleged state complicity in genocide.
