![ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during a press conference in Bogota on June 6, 2023. [Photo by RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-1258490525.jpg?resize=1200%2C628&ssl=1)
The city has become a new battleground between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It is the last Darfuri city with a SAF presence since last year when the RSF took control of all the other four states’ capital.
In a video statement released on Tuesday, Khan called for anyone with potential evidence, including video or audio material, to submit it to the ICC.
“I am extremely concerned about allegations of widespread international crimes being committed in Al Fasher and its surrounding areas,” Khan said, adding that his office is investigating these allegations “with urgency.”
According to him, the investigators have reviewed credible reports of what appear to be ethnically motivated attacks against civilians, widespread use of rape, and assaults on hospitals.
Located in northwest Sudan’s Darfur region, El Fasher is home to over 1.8 million residents and displaced people.
It represents the latest front in the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023.
The ICC prosecutes war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and, in certain circumstances, the crime of aggression.
These offenses must occur on the territory of an ICC member state (Sudan is not a member), by nationals of ICC member states, or be referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council, as happened with Darfur in 2005.
In January 2024, Khan informed the UN Security Council that he believed war crimes were being committed in Darfur by both government troops and the RSF in El Geneina.
