Sudan war ‘being fought on women’s bodies’: Survivors detail sexual assault

In a new report, Doctors Without Borders says sexual violence is the ‘defining feature’ of the conflict in Sudan.Hanaan was 18 years old when she was raped by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of committing widespread war crimes during nearly three years of fighting against Sudan’s army.She was walking alongside a female friend to her makeshift home in an encampment for displaced people in South Darfur, when four men on motorbikes stopped them and asked where they were going.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Drones expand the deadly front lines of Sudan’s devastating warlist 2 of 3Drone attack from Sudan kills 17 people in Chad as war spills over borderlist 3 of 3Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr around the world amid shadow of warend of list“Two took each girl, and they raped us,” she told Doctors Without Borders, an international medical NGO known by its French initials MSF.“I feel uncomfortable in my body, heavy. I don’t feel pain, apart from in my back – because they beat me, they beat me with their guns on my back,” she said.Hanaan – not her real name – shared her testimony as part of a report released by MSF on Tuesday, which details the widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon in Sudan’s ongoing brutal civil war.The NGO said 3,396 survivors of sexual violence sought treatment in MSF-supported health facilities across North and South Darfur between January 2024 and November 2025.The data, presented in the report titled, There is Something I Want to Tell You…, was drawn from MSF programmes in just two of Sudan’s 18 states and reflects only a fraction of the crisis, while the true scale of the phenomenon remains unknown.Women and girls accounted for 97 percent of survivors treated in MSF programmes. The RSF and allied militias were found to be primarily responsible for the systematic abuse.Children among the survivors“Sexual violence is a defining feature of this conflict – not confined to front lines, but pervasive across communities,” Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency health manager, said in a statement.