32 cases of raper were reported among girls fleeing El-Fasher in one week as the western city remains under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese medical organization reported on Sunday. This comes amid extensive reports of abuse committed by RSF militants. 

The Sudan Doctors Network said on Sunday that some girls were raped inside El Fasher following its takeover by the RSF, while others were assaulted while attempting to escape to the nearby town of Tawila. The group condemned the attacks 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,” it said.

Calls for urgent accountability and protection

The network held the RSF fully responsible for the crimes and urged the international community to launch an urgent and independent investigation. It also called for immediate protection measures for survivors and witnesses, along with unrestricted access for medical and humanitarian teams to provide treatment, psychological support, and legal assistance.

Sudan’s conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization. Last month, the RSF seized El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and was accused of massacres in the city.

The paramilitary group now controls all five states of Darfur, while the Sudanese army holds most of Sudan’s remaining 13 states, including Khartoum. Darfur makes up around one-fifth of Sudan’s territory, although most of the country’s 50 million people live in areas under army control.

RSF burned bodies to hide war crimes

Earlier this month, on November 9, the Sudanese Doctors’ Union revealed that the RSF has collected hundreds of bodies in the city of El Fasher, North Darfur, burying some and burning others in what the group described as a deliberate attempt to conceal evidence of crimes committed against civilians.

In a released statement, the civil society network condemned “one of the most horrific inhumane practices” witnessed in the Sudanese conflict, stressing that the atrocities in El Fasher “are not an isolated incident, but a new chapter in a fully-fledged genocide carried out by the RSF.”

The organization accused the paramilitary group of “disregarding all international and religious norms that forbid the mutilation of corpses and guarantee the dead a dignified burial,” holding the RSF “fully responsible for these massacres.”

It also urged the international community to take immediate action, calling for an independent international investigation into the crisis in El Fasher.