The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group has overseen "an organised, calculated campaign" of atrocities during the capture of Sudan's el-Fasher in October, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council virtually from The Hague, Nazhat Shameem Khan said that the office of the prosecutor is currently intensifying its efforts to establish individual criminal responsibility for crimes committed in el-Fasher, North Darfur, in 2025, and in el-Geneina, West Darfur, in 2023.
“The fall of el-Fasher to the RSF has been accompanied by an organised, calculated campaign of the most profound suffering targeting non-Arab communities, in particular rape, arbitrary detention, executions, [and] mass graves all perpetrated on a massive scale,” said Khan, who was presenting the ICC’s latest report on the situation in Darfur.
“Based on information and evidence collected by the office in this reporting period, including video, audio and satellite data, it is the assessment of the office of the prosecutor that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in el-Fasher, including in particular in late October as a culmination of the siege of the city by the Rapid Support Forces,” she said.
