Sudan’s RSF Accused of Using Sexual Violence as Warfare Tactic
Survivors consistently identified RSF fighters as the perpetrators. MSF stated, "Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war and a systematic means of controlling civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law."
Sudan’s conflict-ridden Darfur region is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on Tuesday that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias are systematically using sexual violence to dominate civilians.
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and RSF have clashed in a devastating war, causing tens of thousands of deaths and displacing around 11 million people. The conflict is characterized by rampant sexual violence.
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From January 2024 to November 2025, MSF-assisted centers in North and South Darfur treated at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence, with 97% being women and girls. MSF emphasized that this number likely represents just a fraction of the real extent of these crimes. The organization’s report detailed numerous firsthand accounts, highlighting the intentional use of sexual violence in the region.
Survivors consistently identified RSF fighters as the perpetrators. MSF stated, “Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war and a systematic means of controlling civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law.”
In April, during an RSF assault on Zamzam camp, home to nearly 500,000 people, testimonies from 150 victims suggested that ethnic groups, notably the non-Arab Zaghawa community, were targeted. One 28-year-old survivor recounted, “They were four and each raped me, while some held my arms and others my legs.”
In el-Fasher, which fell to RSF forces in October 2025, the United Nations fact-finding mission reported “acts of genocide.” Many women experienced assaults while going about daily activities in farm fields, markets, roads, and displacement camps.
“There is no way to stop the rapes. The only way is to try to stay home, and to not go out as much,” shared a 40-year-old woman from Jebel Marra.
During December 2025 and January this year, MSF documented 732 cases of sexual violence in displacement camps, some occurring while victims attempted to flee.
“This war is being fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls,” stated Ruth Kauffman, MSF’s emergency health manager, labeling the assaults as a “defining feature” of the ongoing conflict as it approaches its fourth year in April.