{"id":81679,"date":"2026-01-19T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/sudan-atrocities-repeated-town-by-town-icc-prosecutor-tells-un-security-council\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T12:00:00","slug":"sudan-atrocities-repeated-town-by-town-icc-prosecutor-tells-un-security-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81679","title":{"rendered":"Sudan: Atrocities \u2018repeated town by town\u2019, ICC prosecutor tells UN Security Council"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Briefing ambassadors, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said the situation in Darfur had \u201cdarkened even further,\u201d with civilians subjected to what she described as collective torture amid a widening war between Sudan\u2019s rival military forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe picture that is emerging is appalling: organised, widespread, mass criminality including mass executions,<\/strong>\u201d Ms. Khan said. \u201cAtrocities are used as a tool to assert control.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n
Epicentre of \u2018profound suffering\u2019<\/h2>\n
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between former allies the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF).<\/p>\n
What began as a power struggle metastasised into conflicts across the country, most devastating in the Darfur region, which also saw longstanding ethnic tensions \u2013 which prompted allegations of genocide in the early 2000s \u2013 being reignited.<\/p>\n
She said the fall of North Darfur\u2019s regional capital El Fasher to the RSF had been followed by a \u201ccalculated campaign of the most profound suffering,\u201d particularly targeting non-Arab communities.<\/p>\n
The crimes, she said, include rape, arbitrary detention, executions and the creation of mass graves, often filmed and celebrated by perpetrators.<\/p>\n
Based on video, audio and satellite evidence collected, the ICC Prosecutor has concluded that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher<\/strong>, particularly in late October, following a prolonged RSF siege of the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms. Khan said video footage showed patterns similar to those documented in earlier atrocities in Darfur, including the detention, mistreatment and killing of civilians from non-Arab tribes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the RSF are seen celebrating direct executions and subsequently desecrating corpses,<\/strong>\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
El Geneina investigations<\/h2>\n
The Office of the Prosecutor is also advancing investigations into crimes committed in El Geneina, where witnesses have provided accounts of attacks on displacement camps, looting, gender-based violence and crimes against children.<\/p>\n
In 2023, El Geneina witnessed some of the worst violence of the war as RSF fighters and allied militias carried out massacres against the Massalit community, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee into neighbouring Chad.<\/p>\n
UN officials and human rights investigators described the violence as ethnically motivated and warned of possible crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
Evidence now indicates that the patterns of atrocities seen in El Geneina have since been replicated in El Fasher, Ms. Khan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis criminality is being repeated in town after town in Darfur,<\/strong>\u201d she warned. \u201cIt will continue until this conflict, and the sense of impunity that fuels it, are stopped.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n
A school in El Geneina in West Darfur State, which had been serving as a displaced persons shelter, is burned to the ground. (file)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rape as a weapon of war<\/h2>\n
Sexual violence, including rape, is being used as a weapon of war, Ms. Khan said, adding that gender-based crimes remain a priority for ICC investigations. She acknowledged cultural and security barriers that prevent survivors from reporting abuse, stressing the need for gender-sensitive and survivor-centred investigations.<\/p>\n
While much of the briefing focused on RSF abuses, the Deputy Prosecutor said the ICC was also documenting allegations of crimes committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), underscoring that all parties to the conflict are bound by international law to protect civilians.<\/p>\n
Impunity overshadows progress<\/h2>\n
Ms. Khan cited the conviction last October of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb \u2013 a former Janjaweed militia leader \u2013 as a landmark step toward accountability, but cautioned that the scale of ongoing atrocities far outweighed any sense of progress.<\/p>\n
She closed with a pointed call on Sudanese authorities to act against senior suspects long sought by the Court, including former president Omar al-Bashir<\/strong>, former interior minister Ahmad Harun and former defence minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein.<\/p>\n
\u201cAction must now be taken,\u201d she said, warning that justice for Darfur\u2019s victims would remain hollow without arrests at the highest level.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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