The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has dismissed Sudan’s case alleging that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) violated the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in the Darfur region. The court stated on Monday that it lacked the jurisdiction to enact provisional measures against the UAE, as requested by Sudan, and its judges voted to end the case.

The UAE celebrated the ruling, with Reem Ketait, the Deputy Assistant Minister for Political Affairs, calling the decision “a clear and decisive affirmation of the fact that this case was utterly baseless.” Ketait added, “The Court’s finding that it is without jurisdiction confirms that this case should never have been brought,” and characterized the case as an attempt by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to instrumentalize the Court for misinformation and to distract from its own responsibility.

Ketait stated, “The facts speak for themselves: the UAE bears no responsibility for the conflict in Sudan. On the contrary, the atrocities committed by the warring parties are well-documented.” Sudan had filed its case against the UAE in March, accusing it of arming the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an accusation repeatedly denied by the UAE.

Sudan’s acting justice minister, Muawia Osman, had told the court that “a genocide is being committed against the ethnic group of the Masalit in the west of our country,” with the “support and complicity of the United Arab Emirates.”

Since April 2023, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the paramilitary RSF have been engaged in a conflict over control of the country. This civil war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe, and diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have been unsuccessful.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, Netherlands, handles disputes between states and violations of international treaties. Both Sudan and the UAE are signatories of the 1948 Genocide Convention.