Sudanese government rebuffs UN investigation mission, as FFC welcomes
October 12, 2023 (PORT SUDAN) – The Sudanese military-led government has refused to allow the formation of an international fact-finding committee into human rights violations during the war, while the pro-democracy coalition, Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), has welcomed the decision and called for these crimes to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The UN Human Rights Council decided on October 11 to establish a three-member fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations committed by the warring parties in Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has raised doubts about the rationale behind this decision. It noted that the government has initiated its own committee to investigate war crimes, violations, and practices committed by the “terrorist Rapid Support militias” headed by the Attorney General. The statement also accused “Britain and some Western countries” of trying to harness the Council to serve their own ends, highlighting that Arab, African, and Islamic countries abstained from voting in favour of the resolution.
Khartoum’s stance is rooted in its belief that the decision unfairly targets the Sudanese Armed Forces. The government contends that the focus should exclusively be on the Rapid Support Forces, as they are held responsible for the reported crimes. The government also argues that equating the Sudanese army with the Rapid Support Forces encourages the latter to continue the war and continue committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The paramilitary forces are accused of a wide range of abuses against civilians in Khartoum, such as raping women, theft and occupying civilian homes. In Darfur, these paramilitary forces and their allied militias have returned to killing civilians according to their ethnic affiliation and rape, recalling the crimes committed twenty years ago, which prompted the United Nations Security Council to refer these crimes to the ICC.
In addition, there are accusations that the Sudanese army kills civilians when it bombs sites of the Rapid Support Forces deployed in residential neighbourhoods. The army refuses to hold it accountable for these operations due to the lack of criminal intent when they occur.
For its part, the FFC welcomed the decision of the United Nations Human Rights Council. They considered it an essential step towards stopping and ending war-related violations and redressing its civilian victims.
The pro-democracy coalition stressed “the necessity of completing these investigations by referring all charges related to these violations to the ICC through the UN Security Council.”
The statement called on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to cooperate fully with the UN investigation committee and to hand over the culprits to international justice without procrastination or delay.
(ST)