RSF using sexual violence as 'weapon' – report

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militia groups are using sexual violence as a 'weapon of war' in Darfur to control civilians, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in a major report. The report provides the most comprehensive documented accounts of sexual violence in Sudan’s war, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders, reports RFI. Victims and survivors testified for the report, with MSF medical programmes gathering data that have highlighted clear patterns of widespread and systematic abuse. Women in Darfur are demanding protection, care and justice as sexual violence continues across the region, both in active conflict areas and far beyond frontlines, MSF said in a statement after releasing the new report last week. At least 3 396 victims and survivors of sexual violence sought treatment in MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur between January 2024 and November 2025, MSF said, though the NGO warned that this represents only a fraction of the true scale. Many victims and survivors cannot safely reach care, it added. Women and girls accounted for 97% of victims and survivors treated in MSF programmes. The Sudanese army and RSF have been fighting in a brutal war for almost three years, since April 2023. The conflcit has already killed tens of thousands, and displaced at least 13m people. It has been also marked by widespread sexual violence. ‘Sexual violence has become a pervasive and defining feature of the conflict while also persisting beyond active front lines,’ the report states. ‘This war has, in many ways, been fought on the backs and bodies of women and girls.’

Full RFI report