THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor appealed Tuesday for information and evidence about atrocities in Sudan. He says his ongoing investigation “appears to reveal an organized, systematic and pervasive attack on human dignity.”
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan released a video statement in the aftermath of an attack Sunday by the notorious paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces that forced the closure of a key hospital in the western region of Darfur. The group fired shots and looted the hospital in al-Fasher, aid group Doctors Without Borders reported.
The attack came as the RSF, which has been fighting the Sudanese army for a year, intensified its offensive in a bid to wrest control of the city, the army’s last stronghold in the vast Darfur region. More than 120 people were killed in two weeks of fighting in and around al-Fasher last month.
“The terrible events in West Darfur, including El-Geneina, in 2023 are among our top research priorities,” Khan said. “Additionally, I am extremely concerned at this time about allegations of widespread international crimes being committed in Al-Fasher and the surrounding areas.”
A long conflict
The conflict in Sudan began in April last year, when rising tensions between army leaders and the RSF culminated in fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.
The war has killed more than 14,000 people and injured thousands more, while pushing the population to the brink of famine. The UN food agency warned the warring sides last month that there was a serious risk of widespread famine and deaths in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they did not allow humanitarian aid into the region.
The war also caused the world’s worst displacement crisis as more than 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 2 million crossing into neighboring countries, the U.N. migration agency told the Associated Press on Monday.
Khan said he is conducting urgent investigations in Sudan.
“The evidence my office has collected to date appears to show credible, repeated, expanding, ongoing allegations of attacks on civilian populations, in particular attacks targeting internally displaced persons camps,” he said.
“It appears to demonstrate the widespread, pervasive use of rape and other forms of sexual violence. It appears to consistently expose the shelling of civilian areas, the looting of property and attacks on hospitals,” he added, stressing that he was “particularly concerned about the ethnically motivated nature of these attacks on the Masalit and other communities .”
The ICC already has an ongoing investigation in Sudan
The ICC has long been investigating atrocities in Sudan, dating back to an earlier devastating conflict in Darfur. The court has issued arrest warrants against former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges including genocide committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2008.
The RSF emerged from Arab militias, commonly known as Janjaweed, mobilized by al-Bashir against non-Arab tribes in Darfur. At the time, they were accused of mass murders, rapes and other atrocities, and Darfur became synonymous with genocide.
Khan referred back to the earlier conflict in his message on Tuesday.
“It is a shame that we are allowing history to repeat itself again in Darfur,” he said. “We cannot and must not allow Darfur to once again become the world’s forgotten atrocity.”
