Rights group accuses RSF of systematic sexual violence in Sudan’s civil war
Al Jazeera
Report finds paramilitary group responsible for vast majority of attacks as conflict devastates civilian population.
A women’s rights organisation has documented nearly 1,300 cases of endemic sexual and gender-based violence across war-torn Sudan, with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) blamed for the overwhelming majority of attacks.
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) released findings on Thursday showing it had verified 1,294 incidents spanning 14 states since Sudan’s brutal civil war started in April 2023.
The disclosure underscores how sexual violence has become a systematic weapon in the war, the report said, which is one gruesome part of what humanitarian organisations have called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
The SIHA network attributed 87 percent of cases where perpetrators were identified as RSF fighters, describing the violations as “widespread, repeated, intentional, and often targeted” rather than contained incidents.
Rape accounted for more than three-quarters of documented incidents, while 225 cases involved children as young as four years old.
The move follows RSF capture and deadly drone attack on Sudan’s largest energy facility.
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