Alarming war crimes in Darfur: ICC official demands global cooperation

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has issued an urgent plea for information and cooperation regarding allegations of international crimes being committed in Darfur, particularly in Al Fasher.

In a video statement on X, Khan emphasized the need for victim groups, civil society organizations, national authorities and international partners to provide evidence of ongoing atrocities against civilians.

UNSC Referral highlights crisis

Khan’s call to action follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), underlining the gravity of the situation. “We have an ongoing, active investigation in relation to this situation,” Khan stated, highlighting the dire conditions in West Darfur, including El Geneina in 2023, as key investigative priorities.

To address these concerns, the ICC has dispatched investigative teams to Chad, Port Sudan, and other regional locations to gather critical evidence. Khan stressed the importance of collecting relevant and reliable information to support potential applications for arrest warrants against those most responsible for the violations.

Systematic attacks on civilians

Khan described a grim picture of the current situation in Darfur, noting that the information collected by his office suggests an organized, systematic and profound attack on human dignity. “The evidence shows credible, repeated, expanding, and continuous allegations of attacks against the civilian population, particularly targeting camps for internally displaced persons,” he said.

The prosecutor detailed specific atrocities, including widespread violence, shelling of civilian areas, looting of properties, and attacks on hospitals.

He expressed deep concern over the ethnically motivated nature of these attacks, particularly against the Masalit community and others.

Call for assistance in accelerating crisis

“This is a crisis by any benchmark, that unfortunately, seems to be accelerating and deepening. The suffering being endured is widening, and we cannot say that there has been no warning,” Khan remarked.

His appeal follows previous warnings to the Security Council, where he stressed the severity of the human tragedy in Darfur, drawing from his direct experiences on the Chad-Darfur border.

Khan reiterated the need for assistance to accelerate ICC investigations. “I wish to call upon your help, to seek your assistance to further accelerate our work so the law is felt by those that desperately need it right now. We are on the precipice of something even worse,” he urged.

Conflict’s devastating impact

The war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has resulted in over 16,000 deaths, displaced approximately 8.7 million people, and left over 25 million in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the U.N.

This makes it one of the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.