Khartoum, Sudan — Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reported a surge in sexual violence as a tactic of war in Darfur, Sudan. The organization’s findings reveal that between January 2024 and November 2025, at least 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought care at MSF facilities, with 97 percent of the victims being women and girls. MSF emphasizes that this figure is just a fraction of the actual scale of the atrocities taking place.
The report, which includes detailed medical data and testimonies, indicates a deliberate and systematic use of sexual violence by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias to control civilians. The conflict, which escalated in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and RSF, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of around 11 million people.
Survivors have identified RSF fighters as the primary perpetrators, particularly in the April 2023 attack on Zamzam camp, which housed nearly 500,000 people. The report highlights that many attacks occurred away from the frontlines, with women and girls facing violence while performing daily activities such as working in fields or traveling on roads.
Between December 2025 and January 2026, MSF identified 732 survivors of sexual violence in displacement camps, some of whom were assaulted while fleeing or within the camps. Ruth Kauffman, MSF’s emergency health manager, called the assaults a “defining feature “of the ongoing conflict, now entering its fourth year.
Source: Africanews
