A senior International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region. Khan presented her assessment to the United Nations Security Council, highlighting the devastating conflict that has killed over 40,000 people and displaced 13 million others since 2023.
“The depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur has reached an intolerable state,” Khan said, emphasizing the escalating famine, targeting of hospitals, humanitarian convoys, and civilian infrastructure. “On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur.”
The ICC’s probe focused on crimes committed in West Darfur, where Khan’s team interviewed victims who fled to neighboring Chad. The humanitarian situation is dire, with people being deprived of water and food, and rape and sexual violence being weaponized. Abductions for ransom have become common practice.
Khan’s statement echoes the concerns raised by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan, which warned that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have escalated the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and weaponized humanitarian relief. The ICC chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had previously told the Security Council that there were grounds to believe both parties may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide in the region.
The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, following a devastating conflict in the region that killed some 300,000 people in the 2000s. The ICC opened a new probe into war crimes in Darfur in 2023 after a new conflict erupted between the SAF and RSF. Khan emphasized that those inflicting atrocities on the population may feel a sense of impunity but assured that the ICC is working intensively to ensure accountability.
In a stern warning, Khan stated, “I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population – they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past. But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court.”