Rape and sexual violence remain 'part of everyday life' in areas of Sudan even when fighting in the country's civil war has moved elsewhere, according to a new report by medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Calling rape a 'defining feature' of the conflict, it says sexual assault is overwhelmingly carried out by armed men and is often accompanied by acts of brutality and humiliation.
But MSF says rape persists as an 'insidious' part of life for communities in the western region of Darfur that are no longer on the front line.
The report is the most comprehensive account yet on sexual violence in Sudan's nearly three-year war. It is based on testimonies from 3,396 victims who sought treatment in MSF-supported facilities across North and South Darfur between January 2024 and November 2025.
The warring parties - Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - are both accused of sexual violence. But Darfur is the stronghold of the RSF and the vast majority of perpetrators identified by survivors were their fighters.
Many of the cases in the report took place in the conflict hotspot of North Darfur last year, following the RSF takeovers of the displaced persons camps of Zamzam and Abu Shouk, and of the city of el-Fasher in October, which MSF calls 'one of the most shocking iterations, unfolding the most unimaginable brutality'.
The charity states that over 90% of victims it treated were assaulted while travelling from these areas to safety in the town of Tawila. The attacks often involved multiple rapists and included other forms of extreme violence and intimidation such as beatings or the murder of relatives.
'They took us to an open area,' said one woman quoted in the report. 'The first man raped me twice, the second once, the third four times and the fourth once,' she described, recounting the harrowing experience.
Another survivor noted that two women in her group were raped by RSF militia in front of others, leading to one girl’s death on-site.
The report highlights an ethnic dimension to the attacks, with non-Arab communities like the Zaghawa, Massalit, and Fur being 'systematically targeted'. The RSF has acknowledged 'individual violations' but alleges exaggeration of the scale of atrocities.
Sexual violence persists in regions deemed safe, while humanitarian responses remain inadequate, calling for greater accountability and action to address these abuses.
