Sudan has cut diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after repeatedly accusing the Gulf nation of backing the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the country’s civil war.
The announcement came as the RSF were blamed for attacks on the usually safe city of Port Sudan, which started on Sunday and have continued until Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Sudan’s Defence Minister Yassin Ibrahim accused the UAE of violating his country’s sovereignty through its “proxy”, the RSF.
The UAE has repeatedly denied allegations that it is giving financial, military and political support to the paramilitary force.
Two years of conflict has killed thousands, forced millions from their homes and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
As a result of the defence minister’s announcement, the Sudanese ambassador will be withdrawn from the UAE and Sudan will shut its diplomatic missions in the Gulf nation.
Since Sunday, drone strikes have hit an international airport, a major power station and a hotel in Port Sudan. The army has accused the RSF of being behind the assault, but the paramilitary group is yet to comment.
On Wednesday the Sudanese army said it had foiled a strike on the country’s biggest naval base.
“They [the drones] were met with anti-aircraft missiles,” an unnamed source told the AFP news agency.
Until now, Port Sudan had avoided bombardment and was regarded as one of the safest places in the war-ravaged nation.
Sudan’s army has often accused the UAE of arming the RSF.
Both the UK and the US have singled out the UAE in separate appeals for outside countries to stop backing Sudan’s warring parties.
However, on Monday, the UN’s top court dismissed Sudan’s case against the UAE, in which it accused the Gulf state of complicity in genocide.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the case could not proceed because the UAE had opted out Article 9 of the Genocide Convention, which means that it cannot be sued by other states over genocide allegations.
Reem Ketait, the UAE’s deputy assistant minister for political affairs, said the court’s decision was “clear and decisive”.
“The international community must focus urgently on ending this devastating war and supporting the Sudanese people, and it must demand humanitarian aid reaches all those in need,” she said.
Both the army and RSF have been accused of war crimes.
Additional reporting by Cecilia Macaulay