Sudan witnessing ‘a profound human tragedy’, ICC prosecutor warns

The situation in Sudan is deteriorating, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Karim Khan, said while referencing “six months of misery” in the Darfur region.

Presenting his latest report on the situation in Darfur from February to July, Khan told the UN Security Council that it has been “six months of misery, six months of torment, a terrible six months for the people of Darfur.”

As the report called the situation in Darfur “a profound human tragedy,” Khan said stressed that there has been further deterioration in the last six months with increased reports of rape, crimes against children, and vulnerable civilians.

“I am prioritising the allegations regarding these types of crimes that historically in Sudan and in the wider world have affected disproportionately the most vulnerable, the very most vulnerable aspect of our population,” he said.

Describing Darfur as a “very bleak place,” the ICC prosecutor said there is nonetheless “some progress” in the report and that the ICC is “investigating” those who are “aiding and abetting” those responsible for the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

“I hope, by my next report, I will be able to announce applications for warrants of arrest regarding those, or some of those individuals that are the most responsible for what we’re seeing at the moment,” he added.

Noting that his office continues to seek out “solutions not polemics,” Khan said: “The ICC is not a talk shop.”

He added that “the ICC is not and never has been a silver bullet to solve the different crises of the world,” Khan urged greater support from UN member states for the efforts of the international court.

The ICC “requires and it deserves, in my respectful view, effective support from the council. The council, perhaps, if I may be so bold, needs to look at imaginative ways, creative ways to stop this cycle of violence from persisting,” he said.

Emphasising that there is “a trapezium of chaos in that part of the continent,” Khan warned about “reaching a tipping point, a critical mass in which a Pandora’s box of ethnic, racial, religious, sectarian, commercial interests will be unleashed.”

He further noted the need for “deepening cooperation” from the parties of conflict in Sudan and expressed deep concern for the well-being of the people of Darfur.

The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, concerning disagreements about integrating the RSF into the army.

The conflict has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis, and fighting has killed nearly 16,000 people. The conflict has resulted in the largest displacement crisis of the year, with 6.1 million Sudanese fleeing to other areas within the country and 1.5 million people seeking safety abroad. While the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) yesterday warned that famine conditions had been confirmed in parts of Darfur by the latest food security assessment report.

READ: Global food monitor says famine has taken hold in Sudan’s Darfur