A senior International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that “war crimes and crimes against humanity” are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan’s western Darfur region.
ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan presented her assessment before the UN Security Council on Thursday.
The devastating conflict has raged since 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and displacing 13 million others.
Khan said the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur has reached an intolerable state, with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted.
“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.
According to Khan, the prosecutor’s office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, interviewing victims who fled to neighboring Chad.