THE top United Nations court today dismissed a case brought by Sudan accusing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of breaching the genocide convention by arming and funding the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s deadly civil war.

Judges found that the International Court of Justice lacked the authority to continue the proceedings.

While both Sudan and the UAE are signatories to the 1948 genocide convention, the UAE has an exemption to the part of the treaty that gives The Hague-based court jurisdiction.

In March, Sudan asked the International Court of Justice for a number of provisional measures, including telling the UAE to do all it can to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit people.

Ahead of the decision Reem Ketait, a senior official at the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “The case is baseless both legally and factually. The UAE is not involved in the war, and this case is yet another attempt by the Sudanese Armed Forces, one of the warring parties, to distract from its own responsibility.”

Sudan descended into civil war in mid-April 2023 when tensions between its military and rival paramilitary forces broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions.

Both the RSF and Sudan’s military have been accused of war crimes.