Darfur investigations: ICC prosecutor targets possible arrest warrants

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said Monday that he hopes to seek arrest warrants soon for some of those responsible for the "nightmare" experienced by the population of Darfur, a region of Sudan ravaged by war.

Presenting his half-yearly report to the UN Security Council, Karim Khan deplored a "further deterioration" of the situation and described "a terrible six months for the people of Darfur."

"Terror has become a common currency" endured by civilians, he said, citing "many credible reports of rapes, crimes against and affecting children, persecution on a mass scale inflicted against the most vulnerable."

Since April 2023, the war, which pits the RSF, led by former deputy commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, against the army headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has killed tens of thousands of people.

The United Nations says Sudan faces the world's largest internal displacement crisis, with more than 10 million forced to flee internally or abroad.

The ICC last year opened a new investigation for war crimes in the region, and Khan said it has made "significant progress."

"I hope by my next report, I will be able to announce applications for warrants of arrest regarding some of those individuals that are the most responsible," he said.

But he warned of a lack of international concern, saying the world is so "preoccupied with other epicenters of conflict, hot wars, in other parts of the world, that we've lost sight of the plight for the people of Darfur."

He added that a "climate of impunity that we see very tangibly on the ground in El-Genina, and increasingly in El-Fasher, is driven by a deep belief that all human life doesn't matter and that we're not watching."

In El-Geneina, capital of West Darfur, the United Nations estimates that between 10,000 and 15,000 lives have been lost.

Fighting in El-Fasher, the last city in Darfur outside the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces' control, has killed hundreds.

The conflict has ravaged Sudan's infrastructure, put more than three-quarters of health facilities out of service and sparked warnings of famine.