The United States has applauded the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s July 13 announcement that alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed over the conflict in Sudan.
According to the statement released by the State Department Spokesman, Mathew Miller on Thursday while the US support ICC investigation and prosecution as the Prosecutor’s office has commenced focused investigations on recent killings.
The United States who condemned in the strongest terms the continued atrocities and ethnically targeted killings committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allied militias in West Darfur, as reported by credible sources.
Said, “The destruction of the village of Misterei and mass killings of its inhabitants, reportedly at the hands of the RSF and allied militias.
And the report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of a mass grave found near El Geneina containing bodies of 87 people, including women and children, are but the latest examples of the horrific human cost of this war”, US emphasized.
The United States declared that the atrocities and violence in Darfur demand accountability, meaningful justice for victims and the affected communities, and an end to impunity.
“Let this be a message to all who commit atrocities, in Sudan and elsewhere, that such crimes are an affront to humanity. We urge all states to cooperate with the ICC to deliver the justice promised to the people of Darfur”.
The United States joined international and regional parties in demanding an immediate end to the fighting, unimpeded humanitarian access, and for all combatants to adhere to international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The United States strongly objected to any form of external interference and military support for belligerent parties, which will only intensify and prolong the conflict and contribute to regional instability.
“There is no military solution to this conflict. The Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF must silence their guns and start negotiations on a permanent cessation of hostilities. The world is watching”, US said.
New alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region are being investigated by the International Criminal Court, its chief prosecutor said on Thursday.
Fighting between government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Security Forces has spilt into Darfur which was hit by bloodshed and atrocities in 2003, Karim Khan told the UN Security Council
He said the world, the country and the council are “in peril of allowing history to repeat itself”.
In 2005, the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, and Mr Khan said the court still has a mandate under that resolution to investigate crimes in the vast western region.
The bodies of at least 87 ethnic Masalits and others, including women and children, have been found in a mass grave in the West Darfur region of Sudan, the UN human rights office said on Thursday.