UN Warns Sexual Violence Being Used as Weapon of War in Sudan
A new UN report has warned that sexual violence is increasingly being used as a weapon of war in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, describing the scale and brutality as unprecedented. Sudan has been hit by a devastating civil war since 2023, following a fallout between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The UN has verified 546 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence involving at least 838 victims, mostly women and girls. The actual number is believed to be far higher due to underreporting. The report finds that sexual violence has spread alongside both the conflict and displacement routes and has been used consistently to terrorise and traumatise civilians. Meanwhile, the UK and six other European powers have added their voice to calls for an immediate halt to violence in el-Obeid city as fears grow that the RSF is preparing for a major assault to capture it.
The fighting has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 11 million people forced from their homes and 28 million facing acute hunger, aid agencies say. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said that sexual violence was being used as a “weapon of war”.
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The UN Security Council has raised alarm over reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are amassing troops around El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state. It warned that a potential offensive could lead to mass atrocities.
The Council called on the RSF to immediately halt its assault and urged all parties in Sudan’s
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![A woman who fled El Fasher to Tawila in North Darfur]()
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has described parts of the capital, Khartoum, as a “ghost town” teeming with burnt buildings and darkness; however, people are coming back to it because no one wants to stay indefinitely inside displacement camps.
UNFPA deputy executive director for management, Andrew Saperton, said that during his recent visit to Sudan, he saw “a country trying to come back to life,
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Sudan’s war is now in its fourth year, and civilians continue to be killed, displaced, and subjected to widespread sexual violence, according to the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country, who called for urgent action to halt the fighting and protect civilians.
Denise Brown, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, said the crisis is following a grim pattern of repeated abuses and repeated
A survivor of sexual violence covers her face with her hands in a camp for displaced people in Tawila, North Darfur.
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