RSF fighters commit widespread sexual violence in Sudan say survivors
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan has inflicted widespread sexual violence on women and girls during the country's ongoing civil war, including rape, gang-rape, and sexual slavery, according to a new report.
Amnesty International published a report this week that documented sexual violence against 36 women and girls, some as young as 15, between April 2023 and October 2024.
It was based on interviews of survivors and their relatives in Ugandan refugee camps. Amnesty said the acts amounted to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
In the city of Nyala, in Darfur, RSF fighters tied a woman to a tree, before one of them raped her while the others watched. “It was the most horrific day in my life,” she said.
In Wad Madani, in Gezira state, three RSF fighters gang-raped a woman in front of her daughter, 12, and her sister-in law.
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All survivors said the attacks caused physical and mental harm. They all identified RSF fighters as the perpetrators of the sexual violence.
The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023. The conflict has displaced more than 10 million people, and left over 12 million facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
“The horror of the RSF’s sexual violence is overwhelming, but the cases documented among refugees represent a small fraction of the violations the RSF has likely committed,” said Amnesty's Deprose Muchena.
“The RSF’s attacks on civilians are shameful and cowardly, and any countries supporting the RSF, including by supplying them with weapons, shares in their shame.”
The United Arab Emirates is the RSF's largest backer, with evidence indicating that it has continued to supply the paramilitary group with weapons throughout the war, despite the atrocities it commits.
'Horrific violence'
On Thursday, Sudan's government laid out its oral argument at the International Court of Justice accusing the UAE of complicity in genocide against the Masalit community, a Black African group, in Darfur. The UAE denies it supports the RSF militarily.
Amnesty said female medical workers were also subjected to horrific sexual violence, particularly if they were unable to save wounded troops.
In one case, a nurse recounted how 13 soldiers abducted her in north Khartoum and forced her to treat severely wounded men. The soldiers then gang-raped her and left her unconscious.
The report also documented two cases of sexual slavery in the Sudanese capital.
Those who resisted rape risked torture and even murder. An 11-year-old boy was beaten to death for trying to help his mother.
No survivors were able to report attacks or access timely post-rape care, due to the ongoing war, stigma, and the fear of reprisals.
Now as refugees abroad, they are trying to get medical treatment, but cuts to vital USAID-funded programmes have diminished access to comprehensive sexual health care.
“Women are not leading or participating in this war, but it is women who are suffering the most,” a woman raped in the city of Omdurman said.
“I want the whole world to know about the suffering of Sudanese women and girls and ensure that all the bad men who raped us are punished.”
War crimes
Last year, a report by the UN's independent international fact-finding mission for Sudan found that both warring parties had commited a range of war crimes, including acts of sexual violence.
The mission included visits to Chad, Kenya and Uganda, as well as 182 first-hand testimonies from survivors, family members and eyewitnesses.
Muchena said the international response to the plight of Sudanese women and girls had been "reprehensible".
“It’s time for people and governments around the world to establish the truth of what has happened in Sudan, bring suspected perpetrators to justice and provide reparations and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care to survivors,” he said.
Middle East Eye has reported previously on how women across the Darfur region - some as young as 12 - have been the victims of sexual assault perpetrated by men wearing RSF uniforms.
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