The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s office has warned that atrocities reported in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
After 18 months of siege, shelling, and starvation, Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured El-Fasher on 26 October, toppling the army’s final base in the Darfur region.
In a statement on Monday, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) expressed “profound alarm and deepest concern” over reports of mass killings, rapes, and other grave offences allegedly committed by RSF fighters.
“These atrocities form part of a wider pattern of violence that has devastated the Darfur region since April 2023,” the OTP said. “If confirmed, such acts could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute.”
According to the United Nations, more than 65,000 residents have fled El-Fasher, including about 5,000 who have taken refuge in the nearby town of Tawila, while tens of thousands remain trapped. The city had a pre-assault population of roughly 260,000.
Since the RSF takeover, reports have surfaced of executions, sexual assaults, looting, and abductions, alongside attacks on humanitarian workers, in areas where communication remains almost entirely severed.
The RSF evolved from the Janjaweed, an Arab militia accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago. Observers fear that similar atrocities may now be recurring.
Last month, the ICC convicted former Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, of war crimes and crimes against humanity—including rape, murder, and torture—committed between August 2003 and April 2004.
The OTP referenced this verdict as a warning “that there will be accountability for such atrocious crimes.” It reaffirmed that the ICC maintains jurisdiction over alleged offences in the ongoing Darfur conflict and urged witnesses to submit evidence via secure channels.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, British lawyer Karim Khan, is currently on leave amid sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies. His deputies are managing his caseload, including proceedings against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
The Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.