KHARTOUM, Sudan — International medical NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says hundreds of civilians have been victims of torture and sexual violence since Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the city of El-Fasher in North Darfur last month.
MSF’s head of emergency operations, Michel Lacharite, reported that more than 500 victims of torture have been treated in recent months, including over 200 cases of sexual violence in September alone. He said thousands of displaced people have fled to Tawila, though fewer than 10,000 remain there today.
Ethnically Targeted Killings
Survivors describe indiscriminate and ethnically targeted killings carried out by RSF fighters. An unknown number of civilians are believed to be detained in the village of Qarni, with reports that detainees are being extorted for money.
El-Fasher had been under siege for more than 500 days as the RSF battled Sudanese armed forces for control of the army’s last stronghold in Darfur. Witnesses say the city fell to a rampage of violence, though the RSF later claimed to have arrested fighters suspected of summary executions.
Mass Displacement
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates nearly 100,000 people have fled El-Fasher and surrounding villages in the past two weeks. Since the conflict erupted in April 2023, at least 40,000 people have been killed and 12 million displaced, making it what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Calls for Truce
Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has demanded the RSF lay down its weapons, insisting there will be no truce until they do. The RSF last week said it had agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire proposed by US-led mediators, though fighting continues.