The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has called on witnesses to provide evidence to support an urgent inquiry launched by his office into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April last year, when tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into violence.

According to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), four weeks of fighting in and around el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, have resulted in over 190 deaths and left 1,200 people injured.

"I am exceptionally troubled by reports of widespread international crimes occurring in el-Fasher and its surrounding areas," ICC prosecutor Karim Khan stated in a video message on Tuesday, noting that the investigation appears to reveal an organized, systematic and profound attack on human dignity.

Khan mentioned that his team had encountered credible claims of ethnically driven attacks on civilians, extensive use of rape, and assaults on hospitals, urging anyone with potential evidence, including video or audio material, to submit it to his office.

Khan’s statement followed an RSF assault that forced the closure of a primary hospital in el-Fasher on Sunday. MSF reported the group opened fire and looted the hospital.

El-Fasher, home to over 1.8 million residents and displaced individuals, is the only state capital in the expansive Darfur region not controlled by the RSF and serves as a crucial humanitarian center for a region approaching famine.

Residents of el-Fasher have described their city as “hell on Earth, where they could lose their lives any day,” Toby Harward, the UN deputy humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, remarked to Al Jazeera last month.

Previous atrocities

The ICC has a history of investigating atrocities in Sudan, dating back to a prior devastating conflict in Darfur.

The Hague-based court has the authority to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and in some cases, the crime of aggression, if committed on the territory of one of the court’s 124 member nations or by nationals of ICC members. It can also gain jurisdiction through a UN Security Council referral, as occurred with Darfur in 2005.

The court has issued arrest warrants for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges, including genocide, allegedly committed in Darfur between 2003-2008.

The RSF originated from Arab militias, commonly known as Janjaweed, mobilized by al-Bashir against non-Arab tribes in Darfur. During this period, they were accused of mass killings, rapes, and other atrocities.

Highlighting the previous conflict in his message on Tuesday, Khan stated, "It is an abomination that we are permitting history to repeat itself once again in Darfur. We cannot and must not allow Darfur to become the world’s forgotten atrocity, once more."