The United Arab Emirates argued at the International Court of Justice on Thursday that the court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate the lawsuit filed by Sudan against it, accusing it of violating the Genocide Convention.
The UAE told the International Court of Justice judges that its alleged violation of the Genocide Convention by arming and financing the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces constitutes an abuse of the UN body.
Sudan is seeking emergency orders, known as provisional measures, from the Hague-based court, including a request for the UAE to do everything it can to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit people in West Darfur.
“The idea that the UAE is somehow the driver of this abhorrent conflict in Sudan is far from the truth,” said Reem Ketait, a senior official at the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She described the case as "the latest instance of the applicant's misuse of our international bodies as a platform from which to attack the UAE."
The Emirates News Agency (WAM) quoted analysts as saying that the lawsuit lacks evidence and proof, and that it is nothing more than "a feeble attempt by the Sudanese Armed Forces, one of the parties to the conflict, to divert attention from the catastrophic conflict in Sudan and its responsibility for it," which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the displacement of millions of Sudanese people, and the famine it has caused in large parts of the country.
It is noteworthy that both Sudan and the UAE are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention.
However, the UAE has reservations about part of the treaty, and legal experts say it is unlikely the case will continue.
"The International Court of Justice has previously stated that this type of reservation is permissible and is a bar to the case being pursued," Melanie O'Brien, an associate professor of international law at the University of Western Australia and an expert on the convention, told the Associated Press. "The court will likely say the same in this case, which means the case will not proceed."
Sudan descended into bloody conflict in mid-April 2023 when tensions between the army and paramilitary rebels erupted in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other areas.