International humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reports that hundreds of people have been subjected to torture and sexual violence since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur State.
The accounts come from those who have fled El-Fasher since the RSF takeover last month.
Michel Lacharite, head of Emergency Operations at MSF, said: “We have received more than 500 victims of torture in recent months, and for September alone, there were over 200 cases of sexual violence.
Immediately after the RSF captured El-Fasher during the weekend of October 26–27, a few thousand people arrived in Tawila. Today, less than 10,000 new arrivals are registered there.
“MSF notes that survivors reported indiscriminate and ethnically targeted killings. An unknown number of individuals are believed to be detained in the village of Qarni while attempting to flee.”
We are aware that some people are being held and are asked for money. Multiple accounts point in this direction. It is currently very difficult to determine exactly how many are detained and how many hundreds or thousands are affected,” Lacharite added on Friday.
El-Fasher had been under siege for more than 500 days as RSF and Sudanese armed forces fought for control of the army’s last stronghold in the region.
Eyewitnesses described a violent rampage immediately following the RSF’s capture, with fighters carrying out hundreds of ethnically targeted killings. RSF later announced arrests of those suspected of perpetrating the violence.
Nearly 100,000 people are reported to have fled El-Fasher and nearby villages over the past two weeks, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The conflict between RSF and Sudanese forces, which erupted in 2023, has been described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, resulting in at least 40,000 deaths and displacing some 12 million people.
On Friday, Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called on RSF to disarm, stating that no truce will be possible until they comply.
Last week, RSF indicated it had agreed to a humanitarian truce proposed by US-led mediators.
