A prominent group of Sudanese doctors have accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of raping at least 19 women as they fled the town of el-Fasher in Darfur.
The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement on Sunday that it documented rapes among women who had fled to the town of al-Dabba in the neighboring Northern State.
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Two of the women were pregnant, the group said.
“The Sudan Doctors Network strongly condemns the gang rape carried out by RSF against women escaping the horrors of El-Fasher, stating that it constitutes a direct attack on women in flagrant violation of all international laws that criminalize the use of women’s bodies as a weapon of oppression,” the group wrote in X.
Sudan Doctors Network: We have documented 19 cases of rape committed by the Rapid Support Forces, including two pregnant women, in Al-Afad camp in Al-Dabba
The Sudan Doctors Network team in Al-Afad camp in Al-Dabba has documented the rape of 19 women while fleeing… pic.twitter.com/u5qWp4bdSD
— Sudan Doctors Network – شبكة أطباء السودان (@SDN154) December 7, 2025
Sudan has been immersed in a civil war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and the RSF paramilitaries. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million, according to the United Nations. It has also left some 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid.
The RSF took the town of el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, in October after an 18-month campaign of siege and famine. The city was the last stronghold of the Sudanese army in the region.
Survivors who fled the city in the following days recounted mass killings, rape, looting and other atrocities, sparking an international outcry.
Amnesty International has accused RSF of “war crimes”, while the UN Human Rights Council has ordered an investigation into the abuses in El Fasher. Officials who visited Darfur and spoke with survivors described the region as an “absolute horror show” and a “crime scene.”
Widespread sexual assault
Mohammed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that he was “100 percent sure” that sexual violence committed by RSF fighters is much more widespread than reported.
“Because most communities see it as a stigma, most raped women tend not to disclose this information,” she said.
Elsheikh said the network had also documented 23 cases of rape among women who fled El-Fasher for the nearby city of Tawila.
“Unfortunately, the age of these rape victims varies between 15 and 23 years old,” he said.
In its statement, the Sudan Doctors Network urged the international community to take urgent measures to protect Sudanese women and girls.
He also called for “serious pressure on RSF leaders to immediately stop these attacks, respect international humanitarian law and ensure safe corridors for women and children.”
The latest accusations came amid growing protest over another RSF attack on a preschool in South Kordofan state that local officials said killed at least 116 people. According to officials, around 46 of the victims were children.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Abdullah Dirife said Khartoum was willing to engage in political talks aimed at ending the conflict, but insisted that any agreement must “ensure that there is no presence of ‘terrorist’ militias in both the political and military spheres.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, he said the rebels “must agree to hand over their weapons in specific areas and abandon all these cities, and the police should take control.”
Dirife also called for an end to the “transfer of arms and infiltration of mercenaries into Sudan” and claimed that fighters and weapons were entering from regions such as South America, Chad and the United Arab Emirates.
The RSF currently controls the five states of Darfur, while the Sudanese military retains control of most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.
Dirife also accused RSF of repeatedly breaking past commitments to adhere to regional and global mediation initiatives.
“The last initiative we signed was the Jeddah Declaration. However, this militia did not commit to what we agreed to,” he said in Doha.
The Jeddah Declaration, mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia in May 2023, aimed to protect civilians and lay the groundwork for humanitarian access. Several ceasefires followed, but both sides were accused of violating them, leading mediators to suspend talks.
Meanwhile, the UN formally declared famine in El-Fasher and Kaduguli in South Kordofan and warned of the risk of a hunger crisis in 20 additional areas in the Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan regions.
World Food Programme’s deputy executive director Carl Skau told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the agency was providing aid to five million people, including two million in hard-to-reach areas, but warned that the assistance has not met needs.
“World attention must now focus on Sudan and diplomatic efforts need to be intensified to avoid the same disaster we saw in El Fasher,” he said.
