ICC deputy prosecutor says 'war crimes, crimes against humanity' ongoing in Sudan's Darfur

There are "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity" are being committed in Sudan's western Darfur region, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said.

Outlining her office's probe of the devastating conflict which has raged since 2023, Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council on Thursday that it was "difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur."

"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," she said.

The prosecutor's office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighbouring Chad.

‘There should no illusion’

She detailed an "intolerable" humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that "famine is escalating" as aid is unable to reach "those in dire need."

"People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponised," Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become "common practice."

"And yet we should not be under any illusion, things can still get worse."

The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during a previous armed conflict in the region in the 2000s.

In 2023, the ICC opened a fresh probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF's predecessor, then government-linked militia known as the Janjaweed, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region.