ICC Prosecutor Concludes Sudan trip
Today marks the final day of International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s visit to Sudan.
It has been a year since Khan’s last trip to Sudan, during which he pursued outstanding warrants for crimes committed during the 2003 Darfur war under ousted President Omar al-Bashir. This week, Khan once again visited the troubled Darfur region.
Khan’s work has been crucial to the ongoing trials of former officials that aided Bashir’s genocide of African minorities in Darfur. Following the overthrow of the Bashir regime, the civilian-led government signed two cooperation agreements allowing ICC investigation into Darfur-related crimes, agreeing to open a war crimes court office to facilitate ongoing collaboration. Following the October 2021 military coup, an ICC delegation arrived in Khartoum to discuss the future of the investigation.
Despite the junta’s tolerance of ICC activities, explicit support for the ongoing investigations is unlikely. The junta has in fact reinstated multiple Bashir veterans into key bureaucratic posts, and it is therefore unlikely it will also participate in the persecution of its leaders in the short- to medium-term. Long-term, justice will likely only come with a new government, which may come to pass should pro-democracy protests grow.
