Exclusive: ICC prosecutors shelved RSF arrest warrant as Sudan atrocities mounted

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor’s office has not applied for a single arrest warrant over crimes committed in Sudan's Darfur region since the country's devastating war began in April 2023, despite more than three years of investigation and repeated public assurances that charges were imminent, Middle East Eye can reveal.

According to numerous sources and court documents, the office of the prosecutor (OTP) has decided not to proceed with an application for an arrest warrant against a member of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which Prosecutor Karim Khan told judges in January last year he intended to file imminently. The application concerned alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in West Darfur since April 2023.

Briefing the UN Security Council on 27 January 2025, Khan said his office was taking the necessary steps to put forward applications for arrest warrants in relation to crimes in West Darfur, singling out gender-based crimes against women and girls as a priority.

For more than a year after Khan's leave of absence in May 2025, the prosecution did not provide any explanation to the pretrial chamber regarding the late application. 

Last month, the three-judge panel which sits in the pretrial chamber criticised the OTP and ordered it to explain the reason for the delay and to provide a timeline for filing the application.

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It cited statements by Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan to the UN Security Council earlier this year describing the deteriorating situation in Darfur and said the arrest warrants could help prevent further crimes.

The deputy prosecutor, who is currently in charge of the Darfur investigation, has yet to provide a timeline for any other arrest warrants, MEE understands.

In a statement to MEE, the OTP declined to provide information on any progress regarding arrest warrant applications.

It said it has "a duty of confidentiality to the Court as well as to victims and witnesses" and that under the court’s amended regulations all arrest warrant applications are to be classified as secret or under seal. 

"The investigation has accelerated in recent months, with more focused investigative lines, increased evidence collection and witness interviews, and further analytical work," it said.

"Priority has been given to the investigation of gender-based crimes, and crimes against and affecting children."

'Genocide' in el-Fasher

The ICC opened its investigation into crimes committed since the outbreak of the current war in July 2023, when Khan announced his office was examining alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces, the RSF and allied groups. 

In the years since, the office repeatedly told the Security Council it was making progress towards warrant applications.

Yet no suspect has been charged in connection with the atrocities of the current war, including the RSF's siege and October 2025 capture of el-Fasher.

A UN fact-finding report in February concluded that the RSF committed genocide in el-Fasher against non-Arab groups, while another UN report last week said the paramilitary was responsible for the majority of sexual crimes committed by warring parties in Sudan over the past three years.

The UN Security Council has sanctioned four RSF commanders over atrocities in Darfur, while the US has formally accused the RSF of genocide and sanctioned its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, since January 2025.

Despite growing evidence of atrocities committed by RSF fighters, all ICC arrest warrants relating to Darfur still concern crimes from the 2003-2007 era. 

Four warrants remain unexecuted, against former president Omar al-Bashir, former ministers Ahmad Harun and Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, and rebel commander Abdallah Banda.

The court's only conviction over Darfur, of former Janjaweed leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman ("Ali Kushayb"), also relates to that earlier period. Rahman was sentenced to 20 years in December 2025, although the case is under appeal.

Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan is due to deliver a semi-annual briefing on Darfur to the Security Council later this month.

The war between the RSF and SAF, largely backed by foreign powers, has killed thousands over the past three years, displaced more than 13 million, and driven more than 19.5 million people to the brink of famine, prompting what the UN and European Union have described as the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crisis. 

Rights groups have filed two communications with the OTP requesting it to investigate the role of foreign actors, particularly senior officials from the United Arab Emirates, for aiding and abetting RSF atrocities. The UAE has denied backing the RSF.

middleeasteye.net