Sudan: Atrocities could be war crimes, says ICC

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court said on November 3rd that atrocities committed in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher may constitute war crimes, according to a report by France 24 and agencies on the same day.

In a statement, the ICC allege that attacks committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El-Fasher “are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region” and “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

El-Fasher, the state capital of Sudan’s western Darfur region, had been under an RSF-imposed siege since May 2024. On October 26th, the paramilitary group announced its capture of the city “from the grip of mercenaries and militias allied with the terrorist army.”

The ICC are attempting to preserve evidence of a rampage committed by the RSF after the capture of El-Fasher, where the group was accused of killing civilians, including children, and using sexual violence as a weapon of war.

On the evening of October 26th, the RSF went on an execution spree, where more than a dozen people were killed in a series of field executions, including Siham Hassan, a former MP of the Justice and Liberation Party.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a civil war between the UAE-backed RSF and the country’s military. A UN official warned on June 23rd that there was a “very high” risk of genocide occurring in Sudan due to ethnically-motivated violence committed by the RSF.

The conflict has killed at least 40,000 people, while food shortages have led to 26 million out of the country’s 50 million inhabitants facing hunger. The RSF has blocked access to humanitarian corridors leading to El-Fasher, forcing community kitchens to close amid food shortages.

Drone strikes contribute to deteriorating conditions, as many residents are forced to flee to impoverished settlements where food, water, and medical care are either limited or nonexistent.

On July 10th, ICC prosecutors revealed evidence that war crimes were being committed in South Darfur, with deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan telling the UN Security Council that “hospitals, humanitarian convoys, and other civilian objects are apparently being targeted. Famine is escalating, and humanitarian aid is not reaching those in dire need of it.”

“People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponised, abductions for ransom or to bolster the ranks of armed groups have become common practice, and yet we should not be under any illusion that things can still get worse.”

Human rights groups raised concerns on October 30th that RSF killings were a “continuation of the Darfur genocide”, where an estimated 300,000 people were killed in ethnically-motivated killings between April 2003 and March 2004.

The RSF is viewed as a successor to the Janjaweed (“Devils on Horseback”) militia, which was found to have perpetrated genocide against ethnic Africans who staged an uprising against the oppressive Arab Sudanese government.

France 24 and agencies, Maghrebi.org