atrocity crimes – FoRB in Full

Control of Khartoum may have changed hands, but Sudan’s nightmare is far from over

Posted on 15/04/2025 by cswpress in Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan

In late March the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) claimed a significant victory. After months of fighting, the army declared that it had seized full control of the Sudanese capital Khartoum from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.

Visiting the presidential palace for the first time since conflict broke out between the two forces almost two years ago, the leader of the SAF Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said, ‘Khartoum is free, it’s done.’

Some residents of the city may have even breathed a small sigh of relief. While both the RSF and SAF stand accused of the gravest of international crimes, it is generally accepted that conditions are marginally better in areas under SAF rule, perhaps because it is the party to the conflict that currently occupies Sudan’s seat in international arenas.

But the country’s nightmare is far from over.

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Syria: Ten years on, why does it matter?

Posted on 01/08/202401/08/2024 by cswpress in Middle East & North Africa, Syria

June 2024 marked ten years since the Islamic State (IS) declared a caliphate in Syria. Years of brutal conflict including flagrant and well-documented human rights violations, including atrocity crimes, by a complex web of aggravators resulted in one of the highest death counts of any recent war and the highest number of displaced persons in modern history.

Yet in May of last year, Syria was welcomed back into the Arab League, the same government invited to participate in talks to further international cooperation that, just a decade earlier, had deployed chemical weapons against its own civilians. Furthermore, in summer 2023, Russia vetoed the renewal of a mechanism that had enabled the UN to deliver aid without the Syrian government’s consent to parts of north-west Syria not under its control – a resolution that had been in place for nine years. The year rounded out four months later with Syria present at the COP28 climate conference even as France issued an arrest warrant for President Bashar al-Assad over alleged complicity in the chemical gas attacks.

Additionally, the Turkish president currently appears to be working towards normalising relations with Syria, despite opposing the Assad regime for over a decade and the ongoing occupation of parts of northern Syria by Turkish forces and allied Islamist militia.

It is clear that the world is beginning to forget the atrocities of the Syrian Civil War as well as the chaotic campaign of IS that saw whole cities reduced to rubble, wreaking havoc on the nation. But beyond the short clips of media coverage that defined our news cycles for years, what exactly happened between 2012 and 2014, and why does it matter today?

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A year of conflict in Sudan – the international community must act now

Posted on 11/04/202418/04/2024 by cswpress in Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan

This week marks one year since war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the culmination of tensions and contradictions that have existed between the two groups since they seized power from the transitional government in October 2021.

What has been unusual about this war is that it started in the capital, Khartoum, and spread throughout the country. Since Sudan gained independence in 1956, conflicts and even revolutions have originated outside of the capital, which has often led to the insulation of communities in the centre, and arguably the north, of Sudan from the worst ramifications of the instability. Today however, few places in the country have been spared the large-scale hostilities between the two groups, and its impact on civilians has been catastrophic.

As the conflict enters its second year, it has claimed the lives of at least 13,000 people, and more than 33,000 have been injured. With the war intensifying in populated cities, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has risen to more than nine million, and the number of those facing hunger is now estimated to be as high as 20 million. In addition, there are over two million refugees, half of them Darfuri, also facing hunger. Tragically, for the second time in 20 years, there are also credible reports of atrocity crimes, with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) noting that the situation now in Darfur is worse than when the Security Council referred Sudan to the court.

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