ICC Reports Concrete Evidence Linking RSF Leaders to Darfur War Crimes

The International Criminal Court has concrete evidence linking leaders of the Rapid Support Forces to war crimes in Darfur, deputy chief prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said. Khan told the BBC the court had reached a breakthrough in its investigation into massacres in el-Fasher and el-Geneina.

She said the ICC had found linkage evidence connecting events on the ground to specific persons in leadership positions, though she gave no timeline for charges.

More than 6,000 people were killed when the RSF seized el-Fasher in October 2025, the United Nations said. The group is accused of carrying out a similar massacre in el-Geneina. A UN fact-finding mission report released on 8 July 2026 found evidence of widespread atrocities by both Sudan's army and the RSF.

It said RSF fighters were responsible for most systematic attacks on civilians in Darfur, which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that RSF fighters committed sexual abuses including rape, gang rape and sexual slavery during the capture of el-Fasher.

The RSF has denied carrying out widespread killings anywhere in Darfur and said it is investigating any atrocities in el-Fasher. The group acknowledged that some violations occurred.

The war in Sudan began in April 2023. Khan said the patterns of offending in Darfur match those from 20 years ago, when the situation was first referred to the ICC by the Security Council. The ICC investigation includes witness accounts, videos, photographs and forensic evidence.

Previous ICC investigations in Darfur have led to seven arrests and six cases. Last year the court sentenced former militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman to 20 years in prison for 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed from 2003 to 2004. The UK's Human Rights Ambassador Eleanor Sanders warned that El-Obeid could face atrocities similar to those in el-Fasher.