Sudan Conflict Victims Urge ICC Probe of Emirati Officials over RSF Support
Sudanese victims have filed a communication with the International Criminal Court asking it to investigate senior Emirati officials, including Vice President Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for their alleged role in financing, arming and logistically supporting Rapid Support Forces atrocities in el-Fasher, Darfur amid the Sudan conflict. [1]
ICC Communication on Emirati Support for RSF
The filing names intermediaries under Rome Statute Articles 25(3)(c) and 25(3)(d) for aiding and abetting crimes and cites evidence of UAE weapons supplied via Chad, Libya, Uganda, Somalia and an Ethiopian army base at Asosa. [1] The submission was filed with the Office of the Prosecutor and names Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan among those alleged to maintain close ties to the RSF and to have contributed to its financing and logistical support. [1] It asks prosecutors to examine the responsibility of intermediaries under Articles 25(3)(c) and 25(3)(d) of the Rome Statute, provisions covering those who aid, abet or knowingly contribute to crimes committed by a group acting with a common purpose. [1] The communication was filed by Elise Le Gall, a Paris-based counsel before the ICC, on behalf of seven victims now sheltering in a displacement camp in Sudan's Northern State. [1] The victims are asking the court to investigate not only those who carried out the killings, but everyone who supported, financed or facilitated them. [1] The filing takes the form of an Article 15 communication, a mechanism under the Rome Statute that allows any individual, group or organisation to submit information to the prosecutor in the hope of prompting an investigation. [1] "International crimes cannot be committed without support networks," Le Gall said, calling on prosecutors to scrutinise the economic and public actors who may have enabled the RSF through the provision of funding, logistical support, equipment, or personnel. [1]
Fall of el-Fasher and Documented Atrocities
El-Fasher fell to the RSF on 26 October 2025 after a 500-day siege; more than 6,000 civilians were killed in the first three days, with satellite analysis by Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab describing the ring of earthen berms the RSF built around the city as a "kill box". [1] The filing details allegations of murder, torture, rape, forced displacement and attacks on hospitals, and describes a pattern in which RSF fighters pursued fleeing civilians and deliberately ran them over with vehicles. [1] A doctor from el-Fasher, Mohamed Ismail Abdelrahman Hassan, who treated patients through the siege, said in the ICC submission that heavy weapons supplied to the RSF devastated infrastructure, besieged civilian populations, and killed civilians indiscriminately. [1]
Sudanese refugees arrive at Chad border amid RSF atrocities in Darfur. — Source: reliefweb
UN Findings on Genocide and Both Sides' Abuses
The submission rests in part on the findings of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, which concluded that the RSF's conduct in el-Fasher bore the hallmarks of genocide, alongside crimes against humanity and war crimes. [1] Mona Rishmawi, a member of the mission, told that the killings of the city's Zaghawa and Fur communities left only one reasonable inference, that the perpetrators acted with genocidal intent. [1] Both the Sudanese Armed Forces and RSF have been accused by the UN of systematic arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance as the conflict enters its fourth year. [3] A UN fact-finding mission has accused Sudan's warring parties of increasingly using arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance to control the country's population. [3] The commission said individuals are routinely detained under harsh conditions on allegations of collaboration, completely lacking legal basis, due process guarantees, or judicial oversight. [3]
Ongoing Humanitarian and Protection Crisis
Sudanese victims file ICC communication alleging Emirati officials supported RSF atrocities in Darfur. — Source: reliefweb
Refugee monitoring in Chad from 1-15 June 2026 and UNHCR's April 2026 update document ongoing Sudanese arrivals and sustained fighting with drone strikes and clashes across multiple states including Darfur. [2] [4] The security environment in Sudan remains marked by sustained drone strikes and armed clashes across Khartoum, Darfur, White Nile, Kordonan, and Blue Nile States. [4] Many of the victims had walked some 745 miles to reach relative safety in displacement camps in Sudan's Northern State, where UN field staff estimated around 26,000 residents in February. [1]
ICC Jurisdiction and Investigation Status
The court already has jurisdiction over Darfur via a 2005 UN Security Council referral; its office is investigating el-Fasher atrocities but has issued no arrest warrants for Sudanese nationals to date. [1] The ICC already has jurisdiction over Darfur through a 2005 UN Security Council referral, which empowers it to prosecute individuals of any nationality for crimes committed there. [1] The ICC's deputy prosecutor confirmed earlier this year that her office is already investigating the el-Fasher atrocities. [1] Despite the ICC's investigations into alleged RSF atrocities since 2023, no arrest warrants have yet been sought by prosecutors for Sudanese nationals. [1]
Protection Monitoring and New Arrivals in Chad
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees conducted protection situation monitoring for new arrivals from 1 June 2026 to 15 June 2026 along the Chad border. [2] UNHCR's April 2026 update reports sustained clashes and drone strikes across multiple Sudanese states. [4] In South Darfur, intercommunal tensions escalated in Um Zaifa and Buram locality, resulting in civilian casualties. [4]
What to watch next: The prosecutor is not obliged to act on the Article 15 communication but must consider the material and may rely on it to seek judicial authorisation to open a formal inquiry, while the mission has shared confidential evidence with the ICC. [1]
