Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told FRANCE 24 that he had decided to open fresh investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the ongoing fighting in Sudan. He said his office had received numerous reports from many sources of crimes such as destruction of property, executions, killings and rapes.
Khan added that he had informed both camps, the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, of his move. “We have to find a way to make sure that this time, people are held responsible in a timely fashion,” he said.
He also pledged to “leave no stone unturned” to bring war criminals to justice. He refused to describe some of the crimes committed in West Darfur as “genocide”, saying he couldn’t prejudge the investigation. “The law must mean something” to the people now displaced and fleeing for their lives, he said.
Khan indicated having met both of the warring generals in the past and that they are fully aware of his work to investigate crimes and their perpetrators. He acknowledged that he is not allowed to visit Sudan, despite trying to do since fighting broke out in April. “The door is closed, and there is a deliberate policy of non-cooperation from all parties,” he said. In order to gather evidence, he pointed to satellite imagery, refugees in neighbouring countries and an online portal set up by his office to facilitate the reporting of information by witnesses. In regard to ex-president Omar al-Bashir and two of his ministers, against whom arrest warrants were issued by the ICC for their actions in Darfur two decades ago, he said they were no longer in custody.
He called on the international community to step up its commitment to bring justice to the people of Sudan. “If we don’t act, we’re going to be viewed as irrelevant and purveyors of false hope and false promises,” he warned – be it in Sudan, Ukraine or Libya. “If we keep showing that we’re not fit for purpose in times of peril, we run the risk of diluting the impact of something that it took the Holocaust and the second World War to create,” he added.
The failure to do justice to Darfur two decades ago “has sown the seeds for this second round of violence. We need to finally get up and smell the roses. [If we don’t,] we’re going to see more violence. We can’t be a toothless tiger,” he concluded.