by Dr. Greg Noone, Sindija Beta, and Heba Bawaieh
In April 2023, Sudan once again erupted in unmitigated violence and became a theater for harrowing suffering and atrocities. The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern history. Initially a struggle for power between the two armed factions, the conflict has since taken on a chilling ethnic dimension, one that is reminiscent of the early 2000s genocide in Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces have systematically targeted non-Arab African tribes, the same groups they attacked two decades ago when they operated as the Janjaweed alongside Omar Al-Bashir’s government.
Reports of mass killings, sexual violence, and the forced displacement of communities in Sudan raise concerns about atrocity crimes being perpetrated by both warring parties. With civilians caught in the crossfire and critical infrastructure destroyed, the pressing question is: how far has Sudan’s current conflict crossed the line into internationally recognized crimes? This blog post explores the nature and gravity of these atrocity crimes by examining their applicability to the current Sudanese conflict.
Genocide in Darfur
Located in the western part of Sudan, Darfur is a region rich in natural resources and cultural diversity, with a population of various ethnic groups including non-Arab tribes such as the Masalit, Fur, and Zaghawa. Historically, these tribes have faced large-scale marginalization and competition over scarce resources. Darfuris took up arms to fight this neglect; however, Omar Al-Bashir’s government mobilized the notorious Janjaweed militia against the civilian population. The violence was so rampant that it led to the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s, when hundreds of thousands were killed, faced sexual violence, and millions were displaced. Since the 2023 eruption of the war between the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces, Darfur is once again witnessing a resurgence of ethnic violence that threatens to plunge the region into yet another chapter of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The grave nature of the current violence occurring in Darfur indicates that the crimes may meet the criteria for genocide as outlined by international law. Recent reports and satellite imagery reveal that the city of El-Fasher, home to 1.8 million people, has become the focal point of the violence. Using the same tactics employed decades ago, fighters have torched thousands of homes, and forced tens of thousands to flee. Over 43 villages near El-Fasher have been burned since April 2023, with over 20,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. The Rapid Support Forces’ encirclement of El-Fasher, along with widespread reports of mass killings, sexual violence, and restricted access to humanitarian aid, signals a deliberate and targeted campaign against non-Arab African tribes and raises concerns of potential genocide. In the midst of this conflict, critical aid supplies have been choked off which exacerbated a looming famine that threatens over 1.7 million people in the region.
According to Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the definition of the crime of genocide involves a mental element and a physical element. The physical element includes five physical acts: (1) killing members of the group, (2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and (5) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. The mental element, however, covers acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Proving the mental element of this crime is an incredibly difficult task as evidence has to show that the armed actors committed all of the violent acts with the particular intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular group. Generally, such intent would be proven through statements, documentation, or other overwhelming evidence demonstrating the goal of eliminating a group.
While definitive proof of genocidal intent is complex and requires more thorough investigation, the current pattern of violence and evidence suggests a disturbing alignment with genocidal actions as recognized under international law. The Rapid Support Forces’ violent campaigns against certain groups in Darfur may meet the elements of the crime of genocide. However, establishing the intent behind these actions remains a significant challenge since this requires demonstrating that the violence is not merely a byproduct of the conflict between the two warring factions but rather part of a plan to annihilate specific groups. The Rapid Support Forces have reportedly targeted non-Arab groups, murdering their men and boys, abducting and raping women and children, burning villages, destroying farms, obstructing humanitarian aid, and stealing goods and resources. Such acts, combined with Sudan’s history of ethnic conflicts and genocidal targeting of non-Arab communities, may point towards another genocidal conflict in Sudan similar to what it experienced in the early 2000s.
War Crimes
War crimes, as defined by International Humanitarian Law (also known as the Law of Armed Conflict) include grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of the laws and customs of war. Such grave breaches include willful killing, murder, mutilation, torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, causing suffering or serious injury to body or health, and violence to life and person. Likewise, unlawful, extensive taking or destruction of civilian property, such as attacking hospitals and water treatment plants that have taken place in Sudan, are further breaches of the Law of Armed Conflict and can amount to war crimes.
Both combatants and non-combatants may be victims of war crimes due to the fact that they are sick, wounded, shipwrecked, prisoners of war, or civilians. In non-international armed conflicts, like the current conflict in Sudan, those civilians who do not participate in the hostilities are protected under the Third Geneva Convention.
Furthermore, the fighting in Sudan since 2023 has led to the displacement of millions of Sudanese who are in need of humanitarian assistance and at risk of dying of famine. Displaced civilians have shared their accounts of systematic attacks by the militia, the bombing of houses, and the breach of the safe haven they previously enjoyed in Khartoum. Denying humanitarian assistance, as well as targeting safe zones and civilian areas can also amount to war crimes due to their protected status under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Human Rights Watch reported on the Sudanese Armed Forces’ obstruction of aid convoys and looting of emergency food supplies by the Rapid Support Forces. In Khartoum and Darfur, 70-80% of healthcare facilities are non-operational, and warring parties have attacked water treatment plants and other civilian infrastructure.
The main objective of preventing war crimes is to protect human lives. Despite numerous attempts to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table, efforts to establish a ceasefire and deliver humanitarian aid to the affected population have, unfortunately, been unsuccessful. The fighting continues, with civilians continuing to suffer “hideous cruelties.”
Crimes Against Humanity
Crimes against humanity have not yet been codified in a treaty, unlike genocide and war crimes. However, it is still a crime under international law and is listed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which contains a widely accepted definition of crimes against humanity.
The Rome Statute definition lists acts such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, arbitrary imprisonment torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance, apartheid, and other inhumane acts, as acts that can form crimes against humanity. Importantly, however, such acts have to be committed “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.”
An “attack directed against any civilian population” means the commission of the abovementioned acts multiple times. This does not necessarily mean that the attack has to take place in the context of an armed conflict or even needs to be carried out by military force. It can encompass any mistreatment of the civilian population and need not be violent. The important element is that the attack takes place against more than just a limited group of individuals.
Furthermore, “widespread or systematic” are key elements of this crime. Acts do not need to be both widespread and systematic. Nevertheless, they have to either be committed to a large scale, for instance, involving many victims or across multiple geographic areas, or in an organized and planned manner. For instance, as violent acts are committed in multiple areas of Sudan and have had thousands of civilian victims, including the murder, torture, and forcible transfer of the Massalit people and other non-Arab populations of Massalit neighborhoods, they may satisfy both the widespread and systematic criterion.
Conclusion
The situation in Sudan has reached a critical point, with both sides of the conflict committing serious violations of international law. The violence has moved far beyond a mere power struggle and is now characterized by deliberate attacks on civilian populations, particularly non-Arab African tribes. The pattern of mass killings, sexual violence, and forced displacement raises profound concerns about genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission’s findings reveal a systematic campaign of destruction; homes and villages burned to the ground, critical infrastructure reduced to rubble, healthcare facilities attacked, and aid convoys blocked. These repetitive violations do not seem to be isolated or random acts, instead they appear to be widespread and coordinated, violating the very principles of the Geneva Conventions. The use of sexual violence as a weapon and the targeting of specific ethnic groups further indicate that this conflict has taken on a chilling and calculated dimension. The conflict extends beyond a chaotic battlefield between the warring factions and the United Nations Mission’s findings make it clear that both the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces share responsibility for these atrocities.