A "breakthrough" has been made in the investigation into crimes committed during Sudan's war in the Darfur region allowing prosecutors to link them to leadership, a senior International Criminal Court official told Reuters.

The ICC is investigating attacks on the cities of Al-Geneina, in 2023, and Al-Fasher last year, where UN experts say forces from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces committed crimes that bear the "hallmarks of genocide" against people from non-Arab tribes.

"We have got additional evidence, strong evidence, linking what is occurring in Darfur with leadership levels. And we are very, very pleased to say that this is a breakthrough for us," deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters, following a visit to eastern Chad to meet victims of the attacks.

She did not specify the forces the leadership belong to and could not, according to ICC rules, say whether warrants had been or would be applied for.

"We are confident that there are going to be results in at least a reasonable time," she added, without giving a timeframe.

Linkage evidence

In international war crimes trials of political leaders it is often hard to link them to specific atrocity crimes committed by lower level perpetrators. Prosecutors need so-called linkage evidence — often in the form of insider witnesses or physical records — of political leadership being briefed about operations and plans on the ground.

Al-Geneina and Al-Fasher saw the most intense violence in the war between the Sudanese army and the RSF that continued for more than three years.

The RSF now controls both cities, and Khan told the UN Security Council in January that the paramilitary group had not cooperated with investigations.

Sudan is not a party to the Rome Statute, and therefore not a member of the ICC, but the UN Security Council gave the court jurisdiction over atrocity crimes committed in Darfur from 2005 onwards.