The UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan said that both the government-backed Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were responsible for “harrowing” attacks on civilians, including sexual violence, arbitrary detention, and torture, accusing them of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It also called for the expansion of the existing arms embargo in Darfur to all of Sudan, and warned those supplying arms “may be complicit in grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law.”
The UN mission called for the creation of a separate international judicial mechanism tasked with investigating those allegedly responsible for human rights violations. That’s necessary, a member of the mission said, because “[Sudan’s] judiciary has become so politicized and divided that there’s no confidence in it at this stage.”
The member suggested that the mechanism could take the form of a “hybrid” court involving both Sudanese and international groups, or resemble the Special Court for Sierra Leone set up in 2002.
MG/abj/APA