Six years have passed since Sudan’s president was indicted for war crimes. In an open letter to the chief prosecutor of the ICC whistleblower Aicha Elbasri implores the court to re-open the investigation

Dear Fatou Bensouda,



Yesterday marked the six-year anniversary of the international criminal court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.

The day went largely unnoticed by the international community, as Darfur’s victims marked another year without protection, peace or justice. Instead, Bashir shows no signs of easing his repression. He recently seized the entire print runs of 14 newspapers, and the run-up to the presidential elections in April has seen opposition figures imprisoned, while politicians vow to boycott the poll which they see as a ploy to legitimate another five years of his 25-year rule.

Your decision was met with criticism and despair by the people of Darfur, who see it as an abandonment

Which is why it was a shock to learn that you were halt ICC investigations in Darfur last December. While I understand your decision was down to your frustration with the UN security council’s inaction in the region – you rightly called for a “a dramatic shift” in approach – the results have backfired.

Bashir did not understand the message of your decision. He claimed victory over what he described as your “colonialist court”, and took it as vindication. Perhaps as a result, in the first few months of this year the UN reports that over 41,000 people have been displaced by government offensives in Darfur. These are just those the UN has registered; the actual numbers are likely to be far higher.

Nor does your message seem to have been heard by the UN security council you aimed to criticise. A review completed last week has led to the reduction of the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (Unamid) by 770 personnel, as the mission prepares a wider exit strategy, bowing to pressure from the Sudanese government. This signals a failure of one of the largest peacekeeping missions in the world, and one the UK government generously funds.



Your decision was met with criticism and despair by the people of Darfur. I’ve spoken to community representatives, non-governmental organisations and civil society groups who felt your announcement was a sign of abandonment. Many were particularly aggrieved that your announcement came after news of mass rape by the Sudanese Armed Forces of at least 221 women and girls in the village of Tabit in Darfur in November 2014. The assault caused international outrage and, as stated in a recent report by Human Rights Watch, “may amount to crimes against humanity”.

The tragedy in Tabit should shock your court into action

The horror stories described in the report are all too familiar to me. During my tenure as Unamid’s spokesperson I saw how rape was used as part of the government’s policy of attacking the non-Arab population in Sudan. Systematic mass rape and other instances of violence went unreported, un-investigated and covered up, forcing me to blow the whistle last year.



On 7 December you expressed a solemn commitment to “challenge the culture of impunity that allows sexual and gender-based crimes against girls and women, boys and men, in conflict and peace-time, to persist”. The conspiracy of silence over Darfur must stop. The tragedy in Tabit should shock your court into action, especially as it falls under your mandate in Darfur and your duty as prosecutor.

To give meaning to these powerful words you must reverse your decision to shelve inquiries into war crimes in Darfur and open a new investigation into the mass rape of women and girls in Tabit. The survivors deserve nothing less from you, as the only African Muslim woman who’s capable of holding to account the government soldiers who subjected them to such horrific abuse.



You have no army and no police to compel Bashir and his co-indicted to stand trial, but you do have the power to investigate. Investigating the events in Tabit will send a clear message to Bashir, the UN Security Council and the Darfuris – that the ICC will not be defeated, and that it will bring the Sudanese regime to justice.

Yours sincerely,

Aicha Elbasri

Aicha Elbasri was the former spokesperson for the Unamid mission in Darfur. She resigned in 2013, accusing the UN of a “conspiracy of silence” over the world’s biggest forgotten war