ICC probes mass grave

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said his office was investigating reports that at least 87 people were found in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur state. ‘If this oft-repeated phrase of ‘never again’ is to mean anything, it must mean something here and now for the people of Darfur that have lived with this uncertainty and pain and scars of conflict for two decades,’ Prosecutor Karim Khan told the UN Security Council last week. Voice of America reports in 2005, the council referred the situation in Sudan’s Darfur region to the Hague-based tribunal. An investigation was opened into the reported crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Several individuals have been indicted by the court, including former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted from power in 2019. The ICC has issued two arrest warrants for Al-Bashir on charges including genocide and war crimes, but he is still at large. Khan said the ICC has ongoing authority to investigate crimes committed in Darfur and was looking at violence committed there since fighting erupted on 15 April between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Security Forces. The UN human rights office said the dead were found outside El Geneina and included members of the Masalit ethnic group. It said there was credible evidence that Sudan's Rapid Support Forces and an allied militia were responsible.

Full Voice of America report