Sudan conflict: Mass killings investigation gets green light from UN

"There has been too much pretence and performance, and too little action," says UN human rights chief Volker Türk.

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"Our wake-up calls were not heeded. Bloodstains on the ground in el-Fasher have been photographed from space. The stain on the record of the international community is less visible, but no less damaging," UN human rights chief Volker Türk said at an emergency meeting in Geneva on Friday.

Since the civil war began over two years ago, more than 150,000 people have been killed and about 12 million have been forced from their homes.

The new investigation is mandated to identify those who ordered and carried out the massacre in el-Fasher.

The findings could be shared with the International Criminal Court.