ICJ convenes today to rule on Sudan case

The Hague: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, is set to convene its highly anticipated session today to issue a ruling in the case filed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the UAE.

The SAF has accused the UAE — without any legal basis or factual evidence — of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to attacks allegedly carried out by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied factions against the Masalit ethnic group in West Darfur.

This coincides with the release of the UN Security Council’s final report on Sudan, which exposes the grave violations committed by all warring parties against civilians and refutes the baseless allegations levelled by the SAF against the UAE.

The UAE’s diplomatic mission to international bodies has exposed several fabrications in the SAF cases, most notably:

The exploitation and distortion of the Panel of Experts’ findings, including the unauthorised disclosure of confidential reports submitted to the committee, thereby jeopardising the integrity of sanctions monitoring mechanisms and the Security Council.

The selective quoting of out-of-context excerpts from the panel’s report to support the SAF narrative, while deliberately omitting sections or conclusions that contradict or fail to support these claims.

The misrepresentation of the final conclusions of the panel prior to the report’s official release as a UN document. For instance, in his March 13 statement before the Security Council, Sudan’s representative misquoted the final report in an attempt to undermine its credibility.

The delay in publishing the report enabled the Sudanese representative to repeatedly distort its content. In this regard, the UAE urges the Security Council to take all necessary measures to prevent such actions from recurring.

The UAE has reiterated its call for an immediate, unconditional cessation of hostilities, and for all parties to engage seriously in peace negotiations, facilitate humanitarian assistance, and support the establishment of an independent civilian government that reflects the aspirations of the Sudanese people.

This position was reaffirmed by Ambassador Mohammad Abushahab, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, during his meeting with UN official Rosemary DiCarlo to discuss the Sudan crisis. The UAE affirmed that invoking sovereignty to obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid is unacceptable.