The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) said on Thursday that it had documented 1,294 confirmed cases of sexual and gender-based violence across 14 Sudanese states between 2023 and 2025.
In its statement, SIHA reported “1,294 confirmed cases of sexual and gender-based violence in 14 Sudanese states since 2023 up to the present year.”
The organization said the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible for the vast majority of these violations, accounting for 87% of the cases in which perpetrators were identified.
The statement stressed that sexual violence in the ongoing war is systematic rather than incidental, following the movement of the conflict and reflecting shifts in territorial control.
It noted that 77% of the cases with detailed information involved rape. SIHA also documented 225 cases involving children, mostly girls aged between 4 and 17, representing 18% of the total documented cases.
The network highlighted a rise in child marriage and forced marriage, used as negative coping mechanisms or imposed under threat from RSF members.
The statement also underscored patterns of ethnic targeting, with women and girls from non-Arab communities in Darfur—including the Masalit, Berti, Fur, and Zaghawa tribes—facing direct attacks. Women from the Nuba Mountains living in Khartoum were also subjected to targeted abuse and racism.
SIHA said it identified a three-stage pattern of escalating violence that tracks RSF advances:
1. Seizure phase — characterized by home invasions, looting, and rape.
2. Consolidation phase — where women are openly targeted in streets and public spaces.
3. Final phase — the most brutal, involving prolonged detention in homes or improvised prisons, where women face torture, gang rape, and forced marriage.
