New York: There are reasonable grounds to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in western Sudan, said the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the United Nations Security Council. Targeted sexual violence against women and girls of specific ethnicities was named as one of the most disturbing findings to emerge from the ICC probe on crimes committed in Darfur.

According to Nam News Network, war broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, leading to what the UN calls devastating civilian casualties. Nazhat Shameem described an inescapable pattern of offending and stressed that the team was working to translate such crimes into evidence for the court.

Allegations of war crimes have persisted throughout the past two years, and in January 2025, the US determined that the RSF and allied militias had committed a genocide. The RSF has denied the claims, stating it was not involved in what it describes as a tribal conflict in Darfur.

Reports from the UN indicate that conditions in Darfur have continued to worsen, with hospitals and humanitarian convoys suffering targeted attacks, and food and water deliberately withheld. Civilians in the city of el-Fasher have been cut off from aid due to a siege by RSF forces, and an outbreak of cholera across conflict zones poses a serious threat to already scarce water supplies.

An escalating famine has gripped the region, with the UN's children's agency (Unicef) reporting that more than 40,000 children were admitted for treatment due to severe acute malnutrition between January and May 2025—more than double the number admitted in the same period last year. Children in Darfur are being starved by conflict and cut off from the very aid that could save them, said Sheldon Yett from Unicef.