Sudan’s RSF Committed Mass Rape, War Crimes In Darfur — Amnesty Intl

Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing war crimes in el-Fasher, North Darfur, during their recent takeover of the city from the Sudanese military.

In a new report, the global rights organisation said it gathered harrowing testimonies revealing widespread atrocities allegedly carried out by RSF fighters when they seized control of the city late last month.

The group said the atrocities by the RSF included executions of unarmed men, mass rape of women and girls, hostage-taking for ransom, and bodies left scattered across streets and highways leading out of el-Fasher.

“This persistent, widespread violence against civilians constitutes war crimes and may also constitute other crimes under international law,” Amnesty’s secretary-general Agnès Callamard said.

The RSF did not immediately comment but has previously admitted that some fighters committed violations and promised investigations.

Amnesty researchers interviewed 28 survivors who escaped the city. The witnesses, according to them, reported house-to-house killings and sexual assaults.

The World Health Organization has reported that at least 460 civilians were killed at a hospital, with medical staff abducted by gunmen.

One woman told Amnesty that she and her 14-year-old daughter were raped by RSF fighters on October 27 while trying to flee; the teenager later died from complications in a clinic in Tawila. Another woman, aged 29, said she was among 11 women abducted and raped while escaping on October 26.

“The world must not look away,” Callamard warned, urging accountability for all perpetrators.

She also criticised the United Arab Emirates for allegedly supporting the RSF, saying such backing is “fueling a relentless cycle of violence.” The UAE has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Massad Boulos, U.S. adviser on African affairs, said Tuesday that neither the Sudanese army nor the RSF has formally agreed to a proposed humanitarian truce put forward by the Quad — the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.

Army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan rejected the proposal on Sunday as “biased,” while RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo said on Monday he accepted a three-month humanitarian pause to allow aid access.

Sudan’s deadly conflict erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF. More than 40,000 people have been killed, though rights groups believe to be an undercount, claiming over 14 million have been displaced.

The RSF, which evolved from the notorious Janjaweed militia accused of genocide in Darfur in the 2000s, has faced repeated accusations of atrocities during the ongoing war.

The U.S. recently determined that the RSF committed genocide in Darfur. The Sudanese military has also been accused of abuses, but not at the scale attributed to the RSF.