ALBAWABA - The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called out the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces commanders for attacking schools and hospitals. Simultaneously, the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced launching an investigation into war crimes allegations in Darfur.
Reuters cited Guterres condemned the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April last year, was also named for recruiting and using children, committing rape and other sexual violence, and attacking schools and hospitals.
The report, which was written by Virginia Gamba, Guterres' envoy for children and armed conflict, addresses six severe violations: killing and maiming, sexual abuse, abduction, recruitment and use, denial of aid, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court chief, Karim Khan, announced in a video posted on X, that an active investigation into the possibility of crimes against humanity being committed in Sudan's Darfur.
"I am extremely concerned about allegations of widespread international crimes being committed in al-Fashir and its surrounding areas, as we speak," Khan said, adding that his office was investigating those allegations "with urgency".
The investigation, initiated by Khan, had incriminating allegations of what looked like ethnically-motivated attacks against the civilian population, widespread use of rape, and attacks against hospitals.
The ICC can prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and, in some situations, aggression if they are committed on the territory of one of the court's 124 member states or by ICC citizens. It can also get authority by a referral from the United Nations Security Council, as happened in Darfur in 2005.
The UN documented 1,721 violations in Sudan, including 480 killings and 764 maimings, the majority of which occurred during clashes between Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. It also confirmed 85 strikes on schools and hospitals.
114 incidents of sexual violations against girls were recorded. The UN said that the paramilitary RSF was responsible for 57 of the reported cases.
