ICC says violence being used as weaponsin Sudanese conflict
July 11 (UPI) -- War crimes are likely being committed in Sudan, with rape and sexual violence being used as weapons, the International Criminal Court said in a report to the United Nations.
"There is an inescapable pattern of offending, targeting gender and ethnicity through rape and sexual violence," ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told U.N. ambassadors this week.
Khan said the ICC has "reasonable grounds to believe" both war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the northeast African country, which has been plagued by an active civil war for approximately two years.
A team of ICC prosecutors is currently attempting to collect evidence of reported crimes in the Darfur Region in the western part of Sudan.
In February, U.N. officials called for $6 billion to help combat starvation and sexual violence in Sudan. A report at the time said "civilians are paying the highest price" in the country with a population of more than 50 million people.
Sudan's military has been at war since April of 2023 with the Rapid Support Forces, a breakaway militant group run by Gen. Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa. The conflict has seen millions of people displaced, with tens of thousands killed since the country's then-President Omar al-Bashir was removed from office in a civilian coup.
The two sides have continued attacks against each other, with civilians often becoming collateral damage.
In March, Sudan's military recaptured the presidential palace.
A month later, an RSF attack killed over 100 people in Darfur. Figures provided by U.N. officials at the time showed over 24,000 people had been killed in the conflict with more than 700,000 refugees from the Darfur region jammed into two camps.
In January, the United States sanctioned Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces of undermining peace efforts.
Khan, this week, said the ICC has so far collected more than 7,000 pieces of evidence from refugee camps in neighbouring Chad. The prosecutor also called on the international community to "ensure there is no gap in our efforts to hold perpetrators accountable."
The ICC was first given a mandate in 2002 by the U.N. Security Council to pursue war crimes in Darfur, with several subsequent investigations.
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