The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) warned on Monday that crimes committed in the Sudanese town of al-Fashir could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
After 18 months of siege, bombing and starvation, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the town on October 26, eliminating the last army stronghold in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) expressed “deep alarm and deepest concern” over reports from al-Fashir of mass killings, rapes and other alleged crimes.
– These crimes are part of a broader pattern of violence that has affected the entire Darfur region since April 2023 – the ICC said in a statement.
– Such acts, if confirmed, could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute (the ICC’s founding text) – the statement added.
The UN said more than 65,000 people had fled al-Fashir, including about 5,000 to the nearby town of Tawila, but tens of thousands remain trapped.
Before the final assault, the city was home to an estimated 260,000 people.
Since the RSF takeover, there have been reports of executions, sexual violence, looting, attacks on aid workers and kidnappings in and around al-Fashir, where communications have been largely cut off.
The RSF traces its origins to the Janjaweed, a predominantly Arab militia accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.
Reports since al-Fashir’s fall have fueled fears of a return to similar atrocities.
Last month, the ICC convicted a notorious Janjaweed leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur more than two decades ago.
