Sudan: International Law and the Courts

Summary

UN investigators and the US have both found Sudan's RSF committed genocide in Darfur; the ICC convicted and sentenced a Janjaweed leader, but the ICJ threw out Sudan's genocide case against the UAE on jurisdiction.

What it argues

1. Kushayb convicted and sentenced

   ICC found Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb guilty of 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in West Darfur, 2003-04. Judges sentenced him to 20 years, citing his voluntary surrender and age as mitigation; the prosecutor had sought a life term. The first and only ICC verdict in the Darfur situation came two decades after the crimes.

2. UN finds genocide in El Fasher

   The UN Fact-Finding Mission said RSF's 18-month siege, mass killings, rapes and imposed starvation in El Fasher amounted to genocide against the Zaghawa and Fur. Mission member Mona Rishmawi said genocidal intent was "the only reasonable inference" from the evidence. A later report found the pattern was part of an intended policy, and warned the same risk now surrounds el-Obeid. UN investigators have formally concluded RSF conduct in Darfur meets the legal definition of genocide.

3. ICJ dismisses UAE case

   The ICJ ruled it lacked jurisdiction over Sudan's genocide-complicity case against the UAE, citing the UAE's reservation to Article IX of the Genocide Convention. The court did not rule on the merits; seven dissenting or partly-dissenting judges argued the reservation undermines the Convention's only enforcement mechanism. A jurisdictional reservation blocked Sudan's claim before judges examined the evidence against the UAE.

4. US declares genocide, sanctions RSF

   In January 2025 the US determined RSF and allied militias committed genocide, citing ethnically-driven killings and sexual violence. Washington sanctioned RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and seven RSF-linked companies based in the UAE. Washington's genocide finding came with sanctions but no further legal mechanism.

5. RSF and UAE reject allegations

   RSF has denied the abuses, calling the accounts "manufactured" by its enemies and making counter-accusations. UAE official Reem Ketait said the ICJ's jurisdiction ruling confirmed the case "should have never been brought forward." Both parties accused of complicity in genocide reject the allegations outright.

6. El-Obeid atrocity warnings

   UN rights chief Volker Türk warned a "catastrophe" is unfolding as RSF forces ring el-Obeid, home to about half a million people. The UN Human Rights Council opened an urgent inquiry into reported abuses there; the UK and other states warned of large-scale atrocity risk. International attention is shifting from Darfur to Kordofan as the UN warns of a new siege.

7. Ethnic targeting of non-Arab groups

   Survivors reported RSF fighters searching for Zaghawa people and vowing to "eliminate anything black from Darfur." Investigators found women perceived as Arab were spared sexual violence while Zaghawa and Fur women and girls were targeted. Investigators describe the violence as identity-based, aimed at specific non-Arab communities.

8. Darfuri communities respond

   Darfur Women Action Group's Niemat Ahmadi called the Kushayb verdict a foundation for bringing other cases forward. Displaced-persons camp representatives said the conviction is a first step, not the end, toward handing over others wanted by the ICC. Darfuri civil society treats the Kushayb case as a step, not closure, in an ongoing demand for justice.