The International Criminal Court (ICC) has achieved what a senior official called a “breakthrough” in its long-running investigation into war crimes committed during Sudan’s civil war, uncovering new evidence that for the first time directly links atrocities in Darfur to individuals at the leadership level of the forces responsible.
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters that investigators had obtained substantial new material tying the violence to senior command structures, a development she described in unusually emphatic terms.
“We have got additional evidence, strong evidence, linking what is occurring in Darfur with leadership levels. And we are very, very pleased to say that this is a breakthrough for us,” Khan said, speaking after a visit to eastern Chad, where she met with survivors who had fled across the border.
Khan declined to identify which armed group’s leadership the evidence implicates, and said ICC rules prevented her from confirming whether arrest warrant applications had been filed or were being prepared.
Even so, her comments mark the most optimistic public assessment yet from a prosecutor’s office that has faced growing criticism over the slow pace of accountability in one of the world’s deadliest ongoing conflicts.
A Genocide-Scale Crisis, Still Without a Single Public Warrant
The ICC’s investigation centres on two of the most devastating chapters of Sudan’s war: the 2023 attack on el-Geneina in West Darfur, and the fall of el-Fashir last year, assaults that United Nations experts say bore what they described as the “hallmarks of genocide” against non-Arab tribal communities.
Sudan is not a member state of the Rome Statute, but the UN Security Council granted the court jurisdiction over atrocity crimes committed in Darfur dating back to 2005, extending a mandate first established during an earlier phase of the region’s violence more than two decades ago.
Despite that jurisdiction and more than three years of active investigation since the current war erupted in April 2023, the ICC has not publicly issued a single arrest warrant tied to the ongoing conflict.
According to reports, a pre-trial judicial panel recently rebuked prosecutors over the delay, ordering the office to explain the holdup and provide a concrete timeline for filing any application, after Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan had told the UN Security Council as far back as January of last year that a warrant request targeting the Rapid Support Forces was imminent.
Separately, according to several reports, the prosecutor’s office had quietly shelved an arrest warrant application concerning an RSF member, though the office has declined to comment on the specifics, citing confidentiality obligations to the court, victims and witnesses.
Patterns Investigators Have Seen Before
Khan has drawn a direct historical line between the current violence and the atrocities that first brought Darfur before the court two decades ago, telling the UN Security Council that investigators are now observing the same modes of attack that characterised the region’s earlier war.
Witnesses interviewed by ICC investigators have described executions and sexual violence consistent with testimony gathered during that earlier period, Khan said, adding that prosecutors intend to ensure those accounts are heard as the case develops.
Building a case against senior leadership, rather than low-level perpetrators, requires what legal experts call linkage evidence: insider testimony, internal communications or physical records establishing that commanders were briefed on, or directed, operations carried out on the ground, a notoriously difficult evidentiary bar to clear in international war crimes prosecutions, and one that likely explains much of the yearslong delay in bringing charges.
RSF Denies Targeting Civilians, as UAE Faces Renewed Scrutiny
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have controlled both el-Geneina and el-Fashir since capturing them, have publicly denied targeting civilians and have said any individual perpetrators found responsible for abuses would be held accountable.
The group has not cooperated with ICC investigators, Khan told the Security Council earlier this year.
Questions about foreign backing for the RSF have also resurfaced alongside the prosecutor’s comments. Asked whether nations accused of supporting the group’s operations, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been named in expert filings submitted to the court, could themselves face legal exposure, Khan clarified that the ICC’s jurisdiction extends only to individuals, not states, and that her office’s immediate focus remains on securing accountability for the specific crimes committed inside the two besieged cities.
The UAE has repeatedly denied any involvement in supporting the RSF’s campaign.
A Court Also Fighting for Its Own Survival
The breakthrough comes at a precarious moment for the ICC’s broader authority and reach. Three Sahel nations, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, formally began withdrawing from the Rome Statute on July 1, a process the court says will take a year to complete, further eroding the institution’s jurisdictional footprint across parts of Africa.
Khan expressed hope the countries would reconsider.
“I hope they change their minds because I see a great virtue in being part of the Rome Statute family. I think it protects the world,” she said.
Khan and other court officials are separately facing sanctions imposed by the United States after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, a move that has fueled sustained political pressure on the court from Washington even as it presses forward with the Darfur inquiry.
For Survivors in Chad, a Fragile Flicker of Hope
For the more than 13 million people displaced by Sudan’s war and the roughly 19.5 million pushed to the brink of famine, a crisis the United Nations and European Union have called the world’s largest ongoing humanitarian and displacement emergency, Khan’s announcement offers a cautious signal that accountability may eventually follow years of documented atrocity.
Speaking to the BBC after meeting survivors in eastern Chad, Khan sought to temper expectations about timing while affirming the office’s ultimate intent. “It may take time for justice to develop, to be brought to the court, but we will get there,” she said. Whether that pledge translates into unsealed warrants and courtroom proceedings, or becomes another chapter in a prosecutorial timeline that has already stretched years beyond initial promises, is likely to become clearer when Khan delivers her next scheduled briefing to the UN Security Council on Darfur later this month.
