A Sudanese medical group has reported 32 rapes among girls fleeing El-Fasher in just one week as the western city remains held by the brutal UAE-backed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Some of the girls were raped inside El-Fasher after the RSF takeover, while others were assaulted while attempting to flee to the nearby Tawila town, the Sudan Doctors Network said in a Sunday statement.
It condemned the rapes as “a clear breach of international humanitarian law and amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
These crimes “reveal the extent of the disorder and systematic abuses facing women and girls in areas controlled by the RSF, amid the absence of protection and a complete lack of accountability,” the statement said.
The medical group held the RSF fully responsible and called for an urgent, independent international investigation, immediate protection for survivors and witnesses, and unrestricted access for medical and humanitarian teams to provide care, treatment, and psychological and legal support.
The conflict in Sudan between the army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organisation.
Last month, the RSF seized El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and was accused of massacres. The group controls all five Darfur states, out of Sudan’s 18 states, while the army holds most of the remaining 13 states, including Khartoum.
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Darfur makes up about one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, but most of the country’s 50 million people live in army-held areas.
Fighting rages on
In recent days, fighting has intensified across the three states of Sudan’s Kordofan region, as the Sudanese army and the RSF seek to consolidate territorial control.
The escalation comes amid the army’s efforts to strengthen its grip over Khartoum and open a path westward toward Darfur following recent RSF advances.
Clashes between the army and RSF have grown fiercer as both sides attempt to seize strategic areas that would secure supply routes for their forces in key urban centres across North, South, and West Kordofan.
The army has maintained control of El-Obeid, the state capital of North Kordofan, and expanded into new areas following a brief lull, while the RSF has limited itself to drone attacks on the city.
The army has also held key towns such as Um Rawaba and Al-Rahd, and reinforced its presence along main roads linking El-Obeid to Bara to prevent RSF infiltration.
Maintaining control in central and eastern parts of the state secures a vital supply line to White Nile state to the east, which connects to central and eastern Sudan.
Bara was the last town the RSF recaptured, imposing control over it on 25 October. The town holds strategic value due to its location about 25 miles north of El-Obeid, linking North Kordofan to Omdurman, west of Khartoum.
Whoever controls Bara can also advance westward through North Kordofan toward North Darfur.
Currently, RSF forces hold positions in northern and western areas of the state, controlling Jabra Al-Sheikh, Hamrat El Sheikh, Al-Mazroob, Soudari, and Umm Badr.
These western towns are gateways into North Darfur.
