The International Criminal Court (ICC) has “concrete evidence” linking leaders of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to recent war crimes in the Sudanese region of Darfur, the ICC’s deputy chief prosecutor says.
News
Nazhat Shameem Khan told the BBC the ICC had reached a “breakthrough” in its investigation into the massacres of civilians in the cities of el-Fasher and el-Geneina.
“It may take time for justice to develop, to be brought to the court, but we will get there,” Khan said, adding that RSF leaders have also been linked to crimes against humanity.
The siege and takeover of el-Fasher marked one of the bloodiest episodes in the ongoing war between the RSF and Sudan’s army.
Details
More than 6,000 people were killed in el-Fasher as the RSF seized the city in October last year, the United Nations says, while the paramilitary group is accused of carrying out a similar massacre in el-Geneina.
The group has repeatedly denied carrying out widespread killings anywhere in Darfur.
A UN fact-finding mission report released on Wednesday also found evidence of widespread atrocities in Sudan’s conflict by both the army and the RSF.
Analysis
It said RSF fighters were responsible for most of the systematic attacks on civilians, particularly in Darfur, where people were targeted based on ethnic grounds, which “may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
RSF fighters and affiliated groups have also committed sexual abuses including rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and other forms of abuses when they captured el-Fasher last year, according to the UN fact-finding mission.
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