The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a new investigation into suspected war crimes in Sudan. In a report to the UN Security Council, Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan expresses great concern about the escalated violence in the country.
He says the investigation concerns events linked to the fighting in recent months. It is about war crimes and crimes against human rights, with a focus on crimes linked to sexuality and gender, according to the report.
Since April, fighting has been fought between the government army in Sudan and their former allies in the RSF militia, and at least 3,000 people have since been killed. Several cease-fires have been concluded, but broken after a short time.
The ICC has been investigating war crimes committed in the Darfur region since 2005 and the Hague-based court has indicted Sudan’s former leader Omar al-Bashir. He was overthrown in 2019 and Sudan has promised to extradite him to The Hague but has yet to do so.