The alleged atrocities "are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region" and the International Criminal Court said.

Famine has spread to two new regions in Sudan, including a major city in the Darfur region where a militia has reportedly carried out mass killings and sent tens of thousands fleeing in the last week.

An aid group reports that only a few thousand Sudanese have escaped atrocities by Sudan's paramilitary forces in el-Fasher city