ICC Accuses Sudan’s Military and Paramilitary Forces of War Crimes in Darfur

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, declared that both Sudan’s army and its rival paramilitary force are involved in committing war crimes in the Darfur region. Khan reported his claim to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday.

Khan, who initiated a war crimes investigation into the renewed conflict in July, reported that there are “grounds to believe” that crimes under the Rome Statute, established in 2002, are being perpetrated in Darfur.

The Rome Statute empowers the ICC to investigate and prosecute the world’s worst atrocities, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of aggression.

Describing the situation in Darfur as “dire by any metric,” Khan, who recently visited refugee camps in Chad housing tens of thousands of Darfur refugees, expressed concerns that Darfur might become “the forgotten atrocity.”

He appealed to Sudan’s military-led government to grant multiple-entry visas to ICC investigators and respond to 35 requests for assistance.

Responding to these allegations, Sudan’s UN Ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed, asserted that the government had cooperated with the prosecutor’s office and was awaiting a visit from Khan.

He accused the ICC of overlooking the “strategic engagement and operational realities on the ground.”

Mohamed, who further stated that the RSF “militia” is committing large-scale, systematic attacks which aim “to force ethnic cleansing and identity killing” of Darfur’s Masalit ethnic community, said it is up to the prosecutor to determine if this amounts to genocide.

The Sudanese ambassador defended the country’s armed forces, stating that they do not seek war but are compelled to defend the nation adding that the military spares no effort to minimize collateral damage and complies with the laws of war.