ICC believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are taking place now in Sudan's Darfur region

The International Criminal Court believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are continuing to take place in Sudan's vast western Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years, the tribunal's deputy prosecutor said Thursday.

UNITED NATIONS — The International Criminal Court believes war crimes and crimes against humanity are continuing to take place in Sudan's vast western Darfur region where civil war has raged for more than two years, the tribunal's deputy prosecutor said Thursday.

Nazhat Shameem Khan told the U.N. Security Council that the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur "has reached an intolerable state," with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted.

"People are being deprived of water and food," she said. "Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized. Abductions for ransom or to bolster the ranks of armed groups have become common practice."

"And yet we should not be under any illusion," Shameem Khan warned the U.N.'s most powerful body. "Things can still get worse."

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including Darfur. Some 40,000 people have been killed and nearly 13 million displaced, including to other countries, according to U.N. agencies.