A fresh investigation into alleged war crimes in Sudan has been launched by the International Criminal Court. Karim Khan expressed serious concerns about the rising violence, according to the court’s chief prosecutor, who also added that three months of fighting between feuding generals had returned the nation to anarchy. Following a referral by the UN Security Council, the ICC has been looking into crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan since 2005. The Hague-based court has accused former leader Omar al-Bashir of crimes including genocide.
The top UN official in Sudan has called for the warring parties to answer for the atrocities allegedly committed during the most recent fighting. Since fighting broke out between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), about 3,000 people have died and three million have been displaced.
While the ICC cannot currently work in Sudan due to the security situation, it intends to do so as soon as possible, the report said. Under a 2005 UN Security Council resolution, its jurisdiction is limited to the Darfur region.
The ICC has four outstanding arrest warrants related to earlier fighting in Darfur from 2003 to 2008, including one against former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide.