Prosecutor: Sudan uses hunger as weapon against IDP camps

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has again publically alleged that the Government of Sudan is engaged in an ongoing genocide against non-Arab tribes of Darfur. The Sudanese authorities prevented the flow of food to the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and disrupted relief operations, said an aide of the chief prosecutor.

Hunger and deprivation are used as weapons against the population of the camps, he said, which constitutes a crime.

Islam Shalaby from the Office of the Prosecutor told Radio Dabanga that the Sudanese government adopted a ‘war of attrition’ as a strategy to implement another phase of the genocide in Darfur. He asserted that the Sudanese government was obliged under international law to provide shelter, health services and food for the displaced, but instead it proceeded to use of rape, hunger and fear as weapons of attack against the displaced people in camps.

He said the government changed its tactics from directly attacking people with weapons to creating difficult conditions for them to survive in. Shalaby said that what is happening in Darfur are not isolated events but consistent government policy that is well thought out and implemented systematically.

Shalaby was speaking to Radio Dabanga from The Hague.