“Widespread war crimes are being committed in Sudan as the conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) rages through the country,” denounces Amnesty International in a new report detailing the atrocities they are suffering. thousands of Sudanese civilians.

Under the title 'Death Came Home: War Crimes and Civil Suffering in Sudan' the organization has documented numerous civilian deaths in both deliberate attacks and indiscriminate attacks by warring parties.

Likewise, the organization details acts of sexual violence against women and girls, selective attacks against civilian objects such as hospitals and churches, and widespread looting, both in Khartoum and Western Darfur.

Some of the documented human rights violations—such as attacks against the civilian population and humanitarian infrastructure, rape and other acts of sexual violence, and looting—constitute war crimes.

“Civilians across Sudan suffer unimaginable horror with each passing day as the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan Armed Forces recklessly compete for control of territory,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

“People are killed inside their homes or while desperately searching for food, water and medicine; caught in the crossfire while fleeing or deliberately shot in targeted attacks. Members of the warring parties have raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence dozens of women and girls, some as young as 12. There are no safe places.

Since April 15, 2023, the control of Sudan has been disputed between the SAF (led by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council of Sudan) and the paramilitary RSF (led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti).

deaths in crossfire

Men, women and children have been caught in the crossfire as both sides, often using explosive weapons with wide-area effects, launch attacks in densely populated neighbourhoods.

Fighting began in the Kalakla neighborhood in southern Khartoum on April 20.. Kodi Abbas, a 55-year-old teacher, told Amnesty International that 2 of his sons – Hassan, 6, and Ibrahim, 8 – and his nephew Koko, 7, were killed trying to escape being shot: ” My wife and children fled from home when fighting broke out in our neighbourhood…but my two youngest children…were young and couldn't run fast enough…I don't know who shot them. The war has killed them.” Amnesty International has not been able to confirm which of the two parties fired the shots.

Ala Fawzi al Mardi, a 26-year-old doctor, died at her home in the Hay al Manara neighborhood of Omdurman on 15 April, the day the fighting broke out. Fawzi al Mardi, his father, told Amnesty International that his wife was also seriously injured.. “A bullet entered through the living room window and hit my wife in the face, through her right side and through her neck, and then hit Ala in the chest, killing her instantly.”

deliberate attacks

Paramilitaries have launched targeted attacks that have deliberately killed and injured civilians. As an example, Amnesty details that on May 13, members of the RSF broke into the complex of the Coptic church of Mar Girgis (Saint George), in the Bari area of Khartoum.. According to witnesses, they shot five members of the clergy and stole money and a gold cross.

And there have also been ethnically motivated attacks, as tensions have risen in West Darfur, for which many ethnic Masalits have fled to eastern Chad.

In another case, five brothers were shot to death in their home, one of whom —Al Haj Mohamed Abu Bakr— was the husband of Zeinab Ibrahim Abdelkarim.. The 27-year-old mother of two told Amnesty: “Six members of the RSF broke into our house at 8 in the morning and went to the room where my husband and his 4 brothers were and shot them to death. everyone […] The RSF then came to the room where I was with my children and 12 other women and children […] They beat us with sticks and whips and said: 'Where are the guns?' and then they stole our phones.”

sexual violence

Members of the warring parties have subjected dozens of women and girls, some as young as 12, to sexual violence, including rape.. Some were held for days in conditions of sexual slavery.

In most of the cases documented by Amnesty International, the survivors said the perpetrators were members of the RSF or allied Arab militias.

A 25-year-old woman from Geneina told Amnesty International that 3 armed Arab men in civilian clothes forced her into the Civil Registry building in the Al Jamarik neighborhood on 22 June, where they raped her.. “There is no security anywhere in Geneina. I left home because there were shots everywhere […] and these criminals raped me. Now I'm afraid of being pregnant.”

In another case, members of the RSF kidnapped a group of 24 women and girls who were taken to a hotel where they were held for several days in conditions that amounted to sexual slavery.. Many survivors have not had access to medical and psychological help.

Extend the arms embargo

Amnesty International in its report urges the UN Security Council to promptly extend and ensure compliance with the current arms embargo on Darfur to all of Sudan, and to extend humanitarian aid to the country.

“The international community must also immediately extend the existing arms embargo to all of Sudan and ensure its compliance.. Countries that have significant influence over the parties to the conflict must use this to put an end to rights violations.”