ICC prosecutor urges world to ‘stem the bleeding’ in Sudan before region spins out of control

Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, briefs the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Sudan and South Sudan. (UN)
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Updated 05 August 2024
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ICC prosecutor urges world to ‘stem the bleeding’ in Sudan before region spins out of control

  • Karim Khan warns this part of Africa is ‘reaching a tipping point, in which a Pandora's box of ethnic, racial, religious, sectarian (and) commercial interests will be unleashed’
  • Since the war in Sudan began in April 2023, 19,000 people have been killed, more than 10m are displaced internally, and more than 2m have fled to other countries

NEW YORK CITY: Violence in Sudan has continued to escalate in the past six months, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor said on Monday, with reports of rapes, crimes against children and persecution on a massive scale. 

“Terror has become a common currency,” Karim Khan told a meeting of the UN Security Council, “and the terror is not felt by the people with guns but by people who are running, very often with nothing on their feet, hungry.”

War between rival military factions has been raging in Sudan for more than a year. Since it began in April 2023, about 19,000 people have been killed. More than 10 million are displaced within the country and more than 2 million have fled to neighboring countries as refugees, making it the largest displacement crisis in the world.

The country is on the brink of famine as a severe food crisis looms, with many families reportedly already often going days without food.

Khan said the ICC is prioritizing investigations into allegations of crimes against, and affecting, children, and gender crimes. These “profound human rights abuses, mass violations of personal dignity” continue to be fueled by the “provision of arms, financial support from various sectors, and political triangulations that lead to inaction by the international community,” he added.

His comments came during the latest semi-annual briefing to the Security Council on the court’s Darfur-related activities. Almost 20 years after the council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, arrest warrants issued by the court against former president Omar Al-Bashir, former ministers Ahmad Mohammed Harun and Abdel Raheem Mohammed Hussein, and the former commander-in-chief of the Justice and Equality Movement, Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain, remain outstanding.

Khan said that such failures to execute arrest warrants for indicted individuals have contributed to several unwelcome consequences, including “the climate of impunity and the outbreak of violence that commenced in April (2023), and that continues today, (in which) belligerents think they can get away with murder and rape; the feeling that the bandwidth of the (Security) Council, the bandwidth of states, is too limited, it’s too preoccupied with other epicenters of conflict, hot wars in other parts of the world; that we’ve lost sight of the plight of the people of Darfur, we have somehow forgotten our responsibilities under the UN Charter; (and) the feeling that Darfur or Sudan is a law-free zone in which people can act with abandon, based upon their worst proclivities, their worst base instincts, the politics of hate and power, the opportunities to profit.”

He called on council members to “back in substance” the call for justice.

In comments directed toward both of the warring factions, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, as well as “those who are funding them, supplying them with weapons, giving orders, gaining certain advantages,” Khan said his office is investigating and “using our resources as effectively as we can to make sure that the events since April of last year are subjected to the principle of international humanitarian law and the imperative that every human life must be seen to have equal value.”

He said that after “a great deal of difficulty,” Sudanese authorities are finally cooperating with ICC investigators who have been able to enter Port Sudan, collect evidence and engage with Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the country’s de facto leader.

“But one swallow does not a summer make,” Khan added as he underscored the need for “continuous, deepening cooperation with the Sudanese Armed Forces, with Gen. Al-Burhan and his government moving forward.”

He said that “one concrete way in which that commitment to accountability, and this lack of tolerance for impunity, can be evidenced is by properly enforcing court orders,” including the arrest of former minister Harun and delivering him to the court.

However, Khan said that the most recent significant efforts to engage with the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces have so far proved to be fruitless.

Meanwhile, he said, ICC investigators have visited neighboring Chad several times and collected “very valuable testimonial evidence” from displaced Sudanese citizens living there as refugees.

They have met representatives of Sudanese civil society in Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Europe, he added, “to get and preserve their accounts and their stories, to analyze it and to piece it together, to see what crimes, if any, it shows and who is responsible for the hell on earth that is being unleashed so stubbornly, so persistently against the people of Darfur.”

Khan said his office has used technological tools to gather and piece together various forms of evidence from phones, videos and audio recordings, and that this is “proving to be extremely critical to pierce the veil of impunity.”

The collective efforts by investigators, analysts, lawyers and members of civil society have resulted in significant progress being made, he added, and he expressed hope that he will soon be able to announce that arrest warrants have been requested for individuals believed to be most responsible for the crimes in the country.

Meanwhile, Khan sounded a broader alarm over what he described as “a trapezium of chaos in that part of the continent.”

He continued: “If one draws a line from the Mediterranean of Libya, down to the Red Sea of Sudan, and then draws a line to Sub-Saharan Africa, and then all the way to the Atlantic, with Boko Haram causing instability, chaos and suffering in Nigeria, and then back to Sudan, (we) see the map and the countries that risk being unsettled or destabilized by this concentration of chaos and suffering.”

He warned the members of the Security Council that in addition to the concerns about the rights of the people of Darfur, “we’re reaching a tipping point in which a Pandora’s box of ethnic, racial, religious, sectarian (and) commercial interests will be unleashed.”

He added that “they will no longer be susceptible to the political powers of the great states of the world, or even of this council. It requires some real action now to stem the bleeding … in Sudan.”


Militia detains 300 migrants in the desert in Libya’s effort to contain sea crossings

Updated 6 sec ago
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Militia detains 300 migrants in the desert in Libya’s effort to contain sea crossings

The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes
The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe

TRIPOLI: Libyan military officials said Monday they apprehended hundreds of migrants traversing the country’s vast desert hoping to ultimately cross the Mediterranean Sea in pursuit of a better life in Europe.
The 444 Brigade, a powerful militia group that operates under the auspices of the Libyan army, said in a statement that its patrolling commanders detained more than 300 migrants and referred them to authorities.
The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes. It posted satellite images of the desert and pictures of what appeared to be migrants sitting in rows in front of armed and masked militants.
The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe. Many are escaping war or poverty and many employ smugglers to help them negotiate treacherous deserts and sea routes. Roughly 38,000 people have arrived in Italy and Malta from Libya this year, according to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The overcrowded boats used by migrants and smugglers are known to routinely capsize and a key priority for European leaders has been to encourage North African countries to prevent migrants from reaching the sea. But unlike in Morocco and Tunisia — where tens of thousands of migrants also attempt to pass through en route to the southern shores of Europe — fighting between rival governments in Libya has added additional challenges to migration management partnerships.
Migrant apprehensions are rarely reported in Libya, though the country’s state news service LANA reported more than 2,000 arrests in July.
The oil-rich country plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Since then, the country has been divided between dueling governments in the east and west, each backed by militias and foreign powers. Human traffickers have for years benefited from the political chaos.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in July said migrants in the country had been subjected to torture, forced labor and starvation while being detained.

Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

Updated 9 min 37 sec ago
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Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

  • “In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli
  • The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated

GENEVA: More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, she said.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.
A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km (186 miles) away, she said.
On Monday, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said he would allow the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine — army-controlled areas isolated by the fighting — to serve as humanitarian hubs for UN agencies to facilitate deliveries.


Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 26, 2024. Reuters
Updated 13 min ago
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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

  • A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.
Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.
As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.


Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Updated 25 min 27 sec ago
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Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Baerbock said a proposed ceasefire in the conflict in Lebanon was “within reach“

FIUGGI, Italy: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach.”
“A ceasefire and steps toward a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.

Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

Updated 26 November 2024
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Prospect of Lebanon ceasefire leaves Gazans feeling abandoned

CAIRO: The prospect of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah without a similar deal with Hamas in Gaza has left Palestinians feeling abandoned and fearful that Israel will focus squarely on its onslaught in the enclave.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel in October of 2023, triggering the Gaza war.
Hostilities in Lebanon have drastically escalated in the last two months, with Israel stepping up airstrikes and sending in ground forces to Lebanon’s south and Hezbollah sustaining rocket fire on Israel.
Now Israel looks set to approve a US plan for a ceasefire with Hezbollah when its security cabinet meets on Tuesday, while Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib expressed hope that a ceasefire would be reached by Tuesday night.
While diplomacy focuses on Lebanon, Palestinians feel let down by the world after 14 months of conflict which has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 44,000 people. “It showed Gaza is an orphan, with no support and no mercy from the unjust world,” said Abdel-Ghani, a father of five who only gave a first name.
“I am angry against the world that has failed to bring one solution to the two regions,” Abdel-Ghani. “Maybe, there will be another deal for Gaza, maybe.”
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire without a deal for Gaza would be a blow to Hamas, whose leaders had hoped the expansion of the war into Lebanon would pressure Israel to reach a comprehensive ceasefire. Hezbollah had insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.
“We had high hopes that Hezbollah would remain steadfast until the end but it seems they couldn’t,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman, who like most Gazans has been displaced from his home. “We are afraid the Israeli army will now have a free hand in Gaza.”
While a Lebanon deal could leave some Hezbollah commanders in place after Israel killed the heavily armed group’s veteran leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his successor, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas completely.
“We hoped the expansion of the war meant one solution for all, but we were left alone in the face of the monstrous (Israeli) occupation,” said Zakeya Rezik, 56, a mother of six.
“Enough is enough, we are exhausted. How many more had to die before they stopped the war? Gaza war must stop, the people are being wiped out, starved, and bombed every day.”