"They raped all of us" : Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Sudan

Amnesty International call for action to end sexual violence in Sudan.

Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Sudan finds that Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has inflicted widespread sexual violence on women and girls, some as young as 15, throughout Sudan’s two-year civil war to humiliate, assert control and displace communities across the country. Amnesty International states: "Our research also found that none of the survivors of sexual violence interviewed for this report had access to post rape-care services or reported the cases to authorities. It was difficult for them to access health facilities and the police because of the ongoing fighting, and they also feared stigmatization and reprisals.]" “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”, said Suhair, a survivor in a refugee settlement in Uganda, according to AI. AI states in an email message circular that the survivors of these horrors want the world to know what is happening in Sudan, adding: "we need your help today and throughout this week to make this happen. Tuesday 15th of April, marks two years since the war started. Please take a photo with a sign that says #KeepEyesOnSudan and then share it across your social media platforms and tag @amnesty. "As one movement, we stand in solidarity with sexual violence survivors in Sudan, and we will advocate for them to access justice and for perpetrators to be held accountable. SHARE A PHOTO ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH A SIGN SAYING #KEEPEYESONSUDAN," In solidarity, Sanaa Mohamed, Sudan and South Sudan campaigner for Amnesty International states.

Background: Sudan plunged into war on April 15, 2023, after simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and a paramilitary organisation known as the Rapid Support Forces. A civil war between two major rival factions of the military government of Sudan began during Ramadan on 15 April 2023. The two opponent factions consist of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies (collectively the Janjaweed coalition) under the Janjaweed leader Hemedti. Minor factions have also participated in the fighting, allying with either major combatant or remaining opposed to both; these include the Darfur Joint Protection Force; the SLM (al-Nur) under Abdul Wahid al-Nur; and the SPLM-N under Abdelaziz al-Hilu. Fighting has been concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum (the largest and initial battle of the war) and the Darfur region.

As of 14 November 2024, at least 61,000 people have died in Khartoum State alone, of which 26,000 were a direct result of the violence. As of 5 February 2025, over 8.8 million were internally displaced and more than 3.5 million others had fled the country as refugees,[34] and many civilians in Darfur have been reported dead as part of the Masalit massacres. The war began with attacks by the RSF on government sites as airstrikes, artillery, and gunfire were reported across Sudan. The cities of Khartoum and Omdurman were divided between the two warring factions, with al-Burhan relocating his government to Port Sudan as RSF forces captured most of Khartoum's government buildings. Attempts by international powers to negotiate a ceasefire culminated in the Treaty of Jeddah in May 2023, which failed to stop the fighting and was ultimately abandoned. Over the next few months, a stalemate occurred, during which the two sides were joined by rebel groups who had previously fought against Sudan's government. By mid-November, the Minni Minnawi and Mustafa Tambour factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement officially joined the war in support of the SAF, alongside the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). In contrast, the Tamazuj movement joined forces with the RSF, while the Abdelaziz al-Hilu faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North attacked SAF positions in the south of the country.

In October 2023, momentum began to swing toward the RSF, as the paramilitary defeated army forces in Darfur and made gains in Khartoum State, Kordofan, and Gezira State. Since February 2024, the SAF has made gains in Omdurman. Since June 2024, the RSF has made gains in Sennar State. Further negotiations between the warring sides have produced no significant results, while many countries have provided military or political support for either al-Burhan or Hemedti. In February 2025, the SAF made notable gains in Khartoum and Khartoum North (alternatively referred to as Bahri). In March 2025, the SAF retook Khartoum, including the Presidential Palace and the airport, from the RSF. In August 2024, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC) confirmed famine conditions in parts of North Darfur. Since gaining independence in 1956, Sudan has experienced 20 military coup attempts, the most of any African nation.[49] Sudan has usually been ruled by the military, interspersed with short periods of democratic parliamentary rule. Two civil wars – the first from 1955 to 1972 and the second, 1983 to 2005 – between the central government and the southern regions, which led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011, killed 1.5 million people, and a conflict in the western region of Darfur displaced two million people and killed more than 200,000 others.

War in Darfur and the formation of the RSF By the turn of the 21st century, Sudan's western Darfur region had endured prolonged instability and social strife due to racial and ethnic tensions and disputes over land and water. In 2003, this situation erupted into a full-scale rebellion against government rule, against which president and military strongman Omar al-Bashir vowed to use forceful action. The resulting War in Darfur was marked by widespread state-sponsored acts of violence, leading to charges of war crimes and genocide against al-Bashir.[53] The initial phase of the conflict left approximately 300,000 dead and 2.7 million forcibly displaced; even though the intensity of the violence later declined, the situation in the region remained far from peaceful. To crush uprisings by non-Arab tribes in the Nuba Mountains, al-Bashir relied upon the Janjaweed, a collection of Arab militias that were drawn from camel-trading tribes which were active in Darfur and portions of Chad. In 2013, al-Bashir announced that the Janjaweed would be reorganised as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and he also announced that the RSF would be placed under the command of the Janjaweed's commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, more commonly known as Hemedti.[55][56][57][58] The RSF perpetrated mass killings, mass rapes, pillage, torture, and destruction of villages. They were accused of committing ethnic cleansing against the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa peoples.[57] Leaders of the RSF have been indicted for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC),[59] but Hemedti was not personally implicated in the 2003–2004 atrocities.

Military situation in Sudan on 6 June 2016. Under control of the Sudanese Government and allies Under control of the Sudan Revolutionary Front and allies Under control of the Sudanese Awakening Revolutionary Council In 2017, a new law gave the RSF the status of an "independent security force". Hemedti received several gold mines in Darfur as patronage from al-Bashir, and his personal wealth grew substantially.[58][59] Bashir sent RSF forces to quash a 2013 uprising in South Darfur and deployed RSF units to fight in Yemen and Libya.[56] During this time, the RSF developed a working relationship with the Russian private military outfit Wagner Group.[60] These developments ensured that RSF forces grew into the tens of thousands and came to possess thousands of armed pickup trucks which regularly patrolled the streets of Khartoum.[60] The Bashir regime allowed the RSF and other armed groups to proliferate to prevent threats to its security from within the armed forces, a practice known as "coup-proofing". Cull: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_civil_war_(2023%E2%80%93present)