The International Criminal Court (ICC) has concluded that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Fierce fighting erupted between the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023, engulfing Sudan in “the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis,” which has killed thousands of people and displaced over 12 million.
Mass Criminality in Darfur
In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Monday, the ICC Deputy Prosecutor, Nazhat Shameem Khan, said that the raging war in Sudan has inflicted what she called “collective torture” on civilians, as the situation in Darfur has “darkened even further.”
“The picture that is emerging is appalling: organized, widespread, mass criminality including mass executions. Atrocities are used as a tool to assert control,” she said.
Moreover, Khan noted that the RSF atrocities are spreading from town to town across the Darfur region, in what appears as an organized campaign of violence.
“This criminality is being repeated in town after town in Darfur. It will continue until this conflict, and the sense of impunity that fuels it, are stopped,” she warned.
El-Fasher Atrocities
The ICC official highlighted the ongoing collection of evidence and intensifying investigations into alleged crimes committed in the city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
She said that the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher, in late October 2025, had been followed by a “calculated campaign of the most profound suffering,” particularly targeting non-Arab communities.
Within this context, Khan cited video, audio and satellite data indicating that war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as rape, arbitrary detention, executions and the creation of mass graves, had been committed.
“Our work has been indicative of mass killing events and attempts to conceal crimes through the establishment of mass graves,” she said.
Khan also cited video footages of RSF fighters celebrating executions of non-Arabs and desecrating corpses. “Members of the RSF are seen celebrating direct executions and subsequently desecrating corpses,” she said.
West Darfur Crimes
Investigations are also accelerating into crimes committed in El-Geneina, a town in West Darfur. Khan said that her office is analyzing evidence of mass crimes committed by the RSF in 2023, similar to atrocities in El-Fasher.
Witnesses provided accounts of attacks on displacement camps, looting, gender-based violence and crimes against children, with the paramilitary fighters and allied militias committing massacres against the Massalit community, killing between 10,000 and 15,000 people and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to Chad.
Investigating Foreign Backers
Addressing the UN Security Council, Sudan’s Minister Plenipotentiary, Ammar Mohammed Mahmoud, urged the ICC to issue immediate arrest warrants for leaders involved in these crimes, some of whom were filmed while committing the atrocities, according to Sudan Tribune.
Importantly, blasted foreign meddling in the conflict. With regards to this, he said that the RSF crimes would not have occurred without the sponsorship, support and encouragement provided by “a certain State known to you,” in an apparent reference to the UAE.
Sudan has repeatedly accused the UAE of supplying the RSF with weapons, mercenaries and political backing – allegations that Abu Dhabi has consistently denied.
In light of this, Sudan’s delegate urged the ICC to extend its investigations to all those who have supported or colluded with RSF, and to media organizations — including the UAE’s Sky News Arabia — which contribute to “whitewashing the militia’s crimes.”
“Justice will only be achieved by holding accountable those who kill, fund, arm or provide media cover for these crimes,” he said.
