Human Rights Watch has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate possible "war crimes" in Sudan's Darfur region where fighting has intensified despite calls for an end to the conflict.
The group claimed that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias "summarily executed" at least 28 members of the Massalit ethnic minority when they ransacked and torched much of the town of Misterei in May.
Diplomatic efforts to broker an end to the violence have continued, and the East African regional bloc, Igad, on Monday led a renewed push, calling on the warring parties to "sign an unconditional ceasefire".
The Sudanese army nonetheless boycotted the gathering in Addis Ababa, dampening hopes for an end to the nearly three-month-old conflict with the RSF.
War of attrition
Air strikes again shook the capital Khartoum, residents said Tuesday as they sheltered from gunfire.
Experts believe army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, have opted for a war of attrition and are hoping to extract more concessions at the negotiating table.
US ambassador John Godfrey, who along with other diplomats was evacuated near the start of the conflict, warned that "a military 'victory' by either of the belligerents in the Sudan conflict would entail unacceptable human cost and damage to the country".
Godfrey called instead for "a negotiated exit from the crisis", which he said "does not - and cannot - mean returning to the status quo that existed before April 15".
Before the conflict erupted that day, the two generals had jointly ruled the country following an October putsch that derailed Sudan's fragile transition to civ ilian rule.
Around 3,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
