Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are holding more than 100 women and girls who were abducted during the takeover of the city of Babanusa in West Kordofan State, the Sudan Doctors Network reported on Thursday.
According to the same source, 29 teenage girls and 73 women were arrested on the pretext that members of their families were linked to the regular army. They were transferred to El-Muglad, about 50 kilometers south of Babanusa, where they are reportedly being “detained under extremely precarious humanitarian conditions, deprived of the most basic health, food, and psychological care needs.”
The organization denounced a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law,” stressing that “the detention of women and children is prohibited by all conventions banning the targeting of civilians or their use as leverage in armed conflicts.”
It also warned of the “serious health risks” faced by the detainees amid a lack of medical care and the spread of epidemics.
The situation in Sudan has worsened since April 2023 due to disagreements between the chairman of the country’s Sovereignty Council and army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the head of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Clashes that erupted in Khartoum quickly spread to other regions of the country. According to expert estimates, the conflict has killed at least 40,000 people and forced nearly 14 million Sudanese into displacement, many of them on the brink of famine.
Currently, the most severe situation is unfolding in Darfur and Kordofan, areas largely controlled by the RSF.
