PeaceLove

A Moscow court has sentenced four journalists to five and a half years in prison each for allegedly participating in the activities of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF, ФБК in Russian), which the Kremlin has outlawed as an “extremist” organisation. The verdict was handed down after all hearings were held behind closed doors, with press and public barred from attending.

Pressure is mounting on the United Arab Emirates over its presence at a crucial conference in London aimed at stopping the war in Sudan after a leaked confidential UN report raised fresh questions over the UAE’s role in the devastating conflict.

The UAE has been accused of secretly supplying weapons to Sudanese paramilitaries via neighbouring Chad, a charge it has steadfastly denied.

However an internal report – marked highly confidential and seen by the Guardian – detected “multiple” flights from the UAE in which transport planes made apparently deliberate attempts to avoid detection as they flew into bases in Chad where arms smuggling across the border into Sudan has been monitored.

The allegations raise complications for the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, who controversially invited the UAE alongside 19 other states for Sudan peace talks at Lancaster House on 15 April.

The date marks the second anniversary of a civil war that has caused the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 12 million people.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday began hearing Sudan’s case against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which it accuses of being complicit in acts of genocide against the Masalit community in West Darfur by backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).