THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor on Tuesday expressed deep concern over reports of mass killings, rapes, and other crimes allegedly committed during recent attacks by the Rapid Support Forces in El-Fasher, North Darfur.
In a statement, the ICC Prosecutor’s Office said the alleged atrocities form part of a wider pattern of violence that has plagued the Darfur region since April 2023. If confirmed, these acts may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, the statement said.
The Office recalled that “under UN Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005), the ICC has jurisdiction over crimes being committed in the ongoing conflict in Darfur.” It said investigations are ongoing “into crimes allegedly committed in Darfur since the outbreak of hostilities in April 2023.”
According to the statement, “the Office is working intensively, including through repeated field deployments, deepened engagement with victim groups and civil society, and enhanced cooperation with national authorities and international organisations.”
Based on recent reports from El-Fasher, “immediate steps are being taken to preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions, the Prosecutor’s Office said.”
It added that “the recent conviction by ICC judges of Janjaweed leader Mr Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (also known as Ali Kushayb) for similar crimes committed in Darfur in 2004 is a warning for all parties to the conflict in Darfur that there will be accountability for such atrocious crimes.”
ICC called on “all individuals and organisations engaged in the pursuit of justice and accountability to submit, through the secure OTP Link platform, any information or evidence related to recent and prior events in El-Fasher.”
