The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court calls on the world to stop the “bloodshed” in Sudan before the region spirals out of control.
New York City: Violence in Sudan has increased sharply in the past six months, with reports of rape, crimes against children and widespread persecution, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Monday.
“Terror has become a common currency, and terror is not felt by people with guns, but by people running hungry, often with nothing on their feet,” Karim Khan told a UN Security Council meeting.
The war between rival military groups in Sudan has been going on for more than a year. Since it began in April 2023, around 19,000 people have been killed. More than 10 million people have been internally displaced and more than 2 million people have fled to neighboring countries as refugees, which is the largest displacement crisis in the world.
The country is on the brink of famine as a severe food crisis is unfolding, with many families now reportedly going days without food.
Khan said the ICC has prioritized investigations into allegations of crimes against children and gender-based crimes. He added that these “profound violations of human rights, widespread violations of personal dignity” continue to be fueled by “arms supply, financial support from various sectors, and political triangulations that lead to the inaction of the international community.”
His statements were made in the last six-month briefing session of the Security Council about the court's activities related to Darfur. Almost 20 years after the Darfur situation was referred by the Council to the International Criminal Court, the arrest warrant was issued for Omar al-Bashir, the former president, Ahmed Mohammad Haroun and Abdul Rahim Mohammad Hussein, the former ministers and the former commander-in-chief. The Justice and Equality Movement, Abdallah Bande Abakair Nurain, remains prominent.
Khan said such failures to enforce arrest warrants for accused persons have several unfortunate consequences, including “an atmosphere of impunity and an outbreak of violence that began in April (2023) and continues today, (in which) the insurgents think they can Murder and rape will be eliminated. The feeling that the bandwidth of the (security) council, the bandwidth of the countries, is too limited, too involved in other conflict centers, hot wars in other parts of the world. Due to the fact that we have lost sight of the problems of the people of Darfur, we have somehow forgotten our responsibilities under the UN Charter. (f) the feeling that Darfur or Sudan is a lawless zone where people can act with abandon on their worst inclinations, baser instincts, hate politics and power and profit opportunities.
He asked the members of the council to respond to the demand for justice “in principle”.
Addressing both warring factions, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, as well as “those who finance them, give them arms, give them orders, and get special benefits,” Khan said. “That his office is investigating and using our resources as effectively as we can to ensure that the events since April last year are covered by the principle of international humanitarian law and the necessity that every human life should have equal value.”
After “a lot of trouble,” he said, Sudanese authorities are finally cooperating with ICC investigators who have been able to enter a Sudanese port, collect evidence and board Sudan's armed forces commander General Abdul Fattah al-Barhan. The de facto leader of the country
While stressing the need for “continuous and deep cooperation with the Sudanese armed forces, led by General Al-Barhan and his government,” Khan added, “But one swallow doesn't make a summer.”
He said that “one of the concrete ways through which the commitment to accountability and this intolerance towards impunity can be proven is the proper implementation of court rulings,” including the arrest of former minister Haroun and his delivery to the court.
However, Khan said recent major efforts to engage with the Rapid Support Force leadership have so far been fruitless.
Meanwhile, he said, ICC investigators have visited neighboring Chad several times and collected “very valuable evidence” from displaced Sudanese citizens living there as refugees.
They have met with representatives of Sudanese civil society in Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Europe, he added, “to obtain and preserve their reports and stories, to analyze and compile them, to see “What atrocities, if anything, does it represent and who is responsible for the hell on earth that is being waged so stubbornly, so persistently against the people of Darfur.”
Khan said his office has used technological tools to collect and collate various forms of evidence from phones, videos and audio recordings, and that this is “vital to pierce the veil of impunity.”
He added that the collective efforts of investigators, analysts, lawyers and civil society members had led to significant progress, and expressed hope that he would soon be able to announce that arrest warrants had been issued for those most responsible. For the crimes of the country
Meanwhile, Khan sounded a wider alarm about what he described as a “trapezoid of chaos in that part of the continent”.
He continued: “If we draw a line from the Mediterranean Sea of Libya to the Red Sea of Sudan, and then to the sub-Saharan Africa and then to the Atlantic Ocean, Boko Haram will cause instability and chaos.” And the suffering in Nigeria, and then going back to Sudan, (we) see the map and the countries that are at risk of destabilization or destabilization as a result of this concentration of chaos and suffering.
He warned Security Council members that, in addition to concerns about the rights of the people of Darfur, “we are reaching a tipping point where it will be a Pandora's box of ethnic, racial, religious, sectarian (and) commercial interests.” be released.”
He added: “They will no longer face the political powers of the world's major countries or even this council.” Real action is needed now to stop the bloodshed in Sudan.
