RSF accused of sexual slavery in Sudan as UAE taken to court over genocide

A new report by Amnesty International has accused Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia of committing widespread sexual violence across the country, including forcing women into sexual slavery.

The report, titled 'They raped all of us', was released on Thursday and documents the rape and gang rape of 36 women and girls across four provinces of Sudan from the start of the war to October 2024.

The regions where the violations happened include Sudan's capital Khartoum, which saw heavy fighting for the past two years until the army recaptured the city in March, and Darfur, where the group is accused of perpetrating genocide.

One such case saw a woman gang raped over a 30-day period by RSF righters in Khartoum, while another woman was taken from her husband at a checkpoint in Ombadda, west of Khartoum's adjacent city Omdurman, and held for several days as RSF fighters raped her.

Amnesty said that all those it spoke to, mostly survivors, were in Ugandan refugee camps and had identified the RSF as perpetrators.

"The RSF's assaults on Sudanese women and girls are sickening, depraved and aimed at inflicting maximum humiliation. The RSF has targeted civilians, particularly women and girls, with unimaginable cruelty during this war," Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Senior Director for Regional Human Rights Impact said.

"The world must act to stop the RSF's atrocities by stemming the flow of weapons into Sudan, pressuring the leadership to end sexual violence, and holding perpetrators including top commanders to account," Muchena added.

Sudan's civil war has been ongoing since April 2023 when fighting broke out between the RSF and Sudanese army in the capital Khartoum.

Both sides have been accused by the UN of perpetrating war crimes and have been sanctioned by the UN and US, with the US accusing the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur.

Sudan takes UAE to ICJ over genocide

The UAE has been accused of supporting the RSF and facilitating arms flows into the country and the  Sudanese government has taken it to the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the issue, with the case being heard on Thursday.

Sudan's government requested the ICJ issue an order for the UAE to withdraw alleged support to the RSF, as well as pay "full reparations," including to victims of the war.

Sudan's acting justice minister, Muawia Osman, told the ICJ that "the genocide against the Masalit is being carried out by the Rapid Support Force, believed to be Arab from Darfur, with the support and complicity of the United Arab Emirates," according to Reuters.

The Masalit are a non-Arab tribe based in West Darfur and have been subjected to extensive attacks by the RSF.

"The direct logistical and other support that the UAE has provided and continues to provide to the RSF has been and continues to be the primary driving force behind the genocide now taking place, including killing, rape, forced displacement and looting," Osman added, according to AFP.

The UAE has denied the allegations, with foreign ministry official Reem Ketait arguing that "this case is the most recent iteration of the applicant's [Sudan's] misuse of our international institutions as a stage from which to attack the UAE."

She added that the allegations were "at best misleading and at worst pure fabrications."

Reports from the UN, however, have suggested that the UAE has been flying military equipment to the RSF through Chad, which itself has been caught up in accusations by the Sudanese government, leading to a deterioration of relations between the two countries.

The most recent intervention by the UAE has seen Colombian mercenaries bolster the RSF as part of a battalion named the 'Desert Wolves', which is linked to UAE-based firm Global Security Service Group.

According to a report by Colombian news site La Silla Vacia, the battalion consists of four companies made up of retired Colombian military personnel.

Between 350 and 380 are currently fighting in the country, an ex-soldier who returned from Sudan told the outlet.

This includes el-Fasher, the besieged government stronghold located in north Darfur, where the soldiers have been fighting since November 2024.

Colombian soldiers who spoke to the outlet claim they were misled; being told they will be instructors or providing security at oil facilities in the Middle East or North Africa.

(Agencies contributed to this report)