There are “reasonable grounds” to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in western Sudan, said the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, the BBC reports.
Targeted sexual violence against women and girls of specific ethnicities was named as one of the most disturbing findings to emerge from the ICC probe on crimes committed in Darfur.
War broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, leading to what the UN calls “devastating civilian casualties”.
ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said it was “difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering” in the region.
The UN Security Council gave the ICC a mandate to investigate and prosecute crimes in Darfur two decades ago, with the body opening multiple investigations into war crimes and genocide committed in the region from July 2002 onwards.
The ICC launched a fresh probe in 2023 after civil war broke out once again, interviewing victims who had fled the most recent iteration of the conflict to neighbouring Chad.
Ms Khan described an “inescapable pattern of offending”, and stressed that the team were working to translate such crimes into evidence for the court.
