Khartoum, Sudan — 2026-01-25 Women ‘main victims’of Sudan crisis as sexual violence used as weapon of war.
In Sudan, women are emerging as the primary victims of a brutal conflict that has raged since April 2023, with reports indicating widespread sexual violence being used as a weapon of war. Sulaima Ishaq al-Khalifa, a rights activist and newly appointed social affairs minister for the army-backed government, told AFP that women are facing “the world’s worst “sexual violence, accompanied by looting and attacks.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been at the center of the conflict, which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of around 11 million people. Khalifa, a trained psychologist and long-time women’s rights activist, described the situation as dire, with no age limit for victims, ranging from the very young to the very old.
According to Khalifa, women are subjected to sexual slavery and trafficked to neighboring countries, along with forced marriages arranged to avoid shame.
Her ministry has documented over 1,800 rapes between April 2023 and October 2025, a figure that does not include atrocities in Darfur and the neighboring Kordofan region.
The SIHA Network, an activist group documenting abuses against women in the Horn of Africa, found that more than three — quarters of recorded cases involved rape, with 87 percent attributed to the RSF.
The United Nations has repeatedly expressed concern over targeted attacks on non — Arab communities in Darfur, while the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a formal investigation into “war crimes “by both sides.
Nazhat Shameem Khan, ICC deputy prosecutor, briefed the UN Security Council in mid — January, revealing evidence of an “organised, calculated campaign “involving mass rapes and executions in El-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in Darfur captured by the RSF in late October. Khalifa expressed that the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is intended to humiliate and force people to leave their homes and cities, adding that it perpetuates a sense of revenge and prolongs the war.
The minister also highlighted the role of foreign mercenaries, including those from West Africa and Colombia, in the attacks.
Many survivors have been abducted and held as sexual slaves, while others have been sold through trafficking networks.
The collapse of state institutions and social stigma in conservative communities have made it difficult to document the full scale of the abuse. Further details are expected as the situation continues to evolve.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
