Sudan Accuses UAE of Arming RSF Militia
April 29, 2025—War crimes in Sudan are getting some much-needed attention as the World Court hears a case about the genocide in Sudan. The Sudanese government accuses the United Arab Emirates of arming the Rapid Support Forces militia. In less than a week, on May 5, the International Court of Justice will announce the Court’s Order in a public hearing.
Sudan wants the ICJ to order the UAE to end shipments of weapons to the RSF and make full reparations to the Sudanese.
The RSF militias are accused of committing massive human rights violations, including “mass killings, rape and the forced displacement of the non-Arab Masalit people in West Darfur.”
Humanitarian Crisis
The crisis has displaced more than 12.4 million people, including three million who fled to neighboring countries. Famine and disease have spread to several areas.
Writing in the Financial Times, Abdalla Hamdok, former prime minister of Sudan, says “unimaginable suffering” in the war-torn country is due to “decades of exclusion, economic disparity and institutional decay.” He calls for a political settlement.
However, others blame external actors, primarily the UAE, for propping up the militia to gain access to Sudan’s natural resources.
For example, Babikir Elamin, head of Mission at the Sudanese Embassy in London, says it is “clearly evident” the RSF militia is “fighting a proxy war on behalf of its regional sponsor,” the UAE. Elamin argued in the FT the UAE is “greedy to control Sudan, its natural resources, its very important geostrategic location and long Red Sea coast, while satisfying its leadership’s thirst for more power.”
Elamin says the only solution is to defeat the RSF militia.
Serbia’s Intervention
Despite lobbying in The Hague for diplomatic support, the UAE only gathered support from one country: Serbia. It was the only country to file a Declaration of Intervention on the UAE’s behalf. Serbia and the UAE are known for trading in weapons with each other.
Separately, Reuters is reporting today that a UN body is investigating how mortar rounds shipped from Bulgaria to the UAE ended up in the hands of the RSF militia.
