Africa — 2026-07-04

ICC Prosecutors Shelved RSF Arrest Warrant for Darfur Crimes Against Humanity Despite Three Years of Investigation

BLUFEighteen months of inaction after a promised "imminent" warrant application leaves the ICC without a credible enforcement role against ongoing RSF atrocities in Darfur.

The ICC prosecutor's office has filed no arrest warrant applications for crimes committed in Darfur since Sudan's war began in April 2023, despite more than three years of investigation, Middle East Eye reported, citing court documents and multiple sources 1. Prosecutor Karim Khan told judges in January 2025 that a warrant application against an RSF member for West Darfur crimes against humanity was imminent, and told the UN Security Council on January 27 his office was prioritizing gender-based crimes against women and girls 1. Following Khan's May 2025 leave of absence, the pretrial chamber's three-judge panel last month criticized the OTP for failing to explain the delay and ordered it to provide a timeline 1. No suspect has been charged for crimes committed since 2023, including the RSF's October 2025 capture of el-Fasher after a siege; a UN fact-finding report in February concluded the RSF committed genocide there against non-Arab groups, and a UN report issued last week found the RSF responsible for the majority of wartime sexual crimes in Sudan 1. The OTP told MEE it could not disclose progress on arrest warrant applications, citing confidentiality obligations, but said the investigation "has accelerated in recent months" with increased evidence collection and witness interviews, prioritizing gender-based crimes and crimes against children 1. All four currently unexecuted ICC Darfur warrants date to 2003-2007, against Omar al-Bashir, Ahmad Harun, Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein, and Abdallah Banda 1.

Analysis
The pretrial chamber's demand for a timeline follows eighteen months of inaction since Khan called a warrant application imminent in January 2025, and the gap between that assurance and the OTP's present silence erodes the court's credibility against perpetrators still active in Darfur. Low confidence attaches given single-outlet sourcing from Middle East Eye with no independent corroboration beyond the court documents cited. Confidentiality obligations around sealed filings may fully explain the silence rather than institutional failure. Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan's scheduled Security Council briefing this month becomes the forcing event: a filing beforehand validates the chamber's oversight pressure, while continued delay pushes states weighing sanctions or referrals against RSF commanders toward unilateral measures like the genocide designation already applied to Hemedti.

2 sources

Exclusive: ICC prosecutors shelved RSF arrest warrant as Sudan atrocities mounted - Middle East Eye
Exclusive: ICC prosecutors shelved RSF arrest warrant as Sudan atrocities mounted - Sudan Independent