Sudan’s Minister of State for Social Welfare, Salma Ishaq Al Khalifa, has stated that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed 300 women during the first two days of their capture of Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur.
According to the minister, women were subjected to sexual violence, rape, and brutal assault. She described the situation in Al-Fashir as a humanitarian tragedy. Salma Ishaq warned that those trying to flee the city toward Tawila are facing severe dangers on the “road of death.”
Speaking to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, she said that families still remaining in the city continue to face violence, humiliation, and sexual crimes. She stated that what happened in Al-Fashir is a systematic process of ethnic cleansing, a serious crime, and the world’s silence over it amounts to criminal complicity.
It should be noted that the Rapid Support Forces took control of Al-Fashir on October 26, after which local and international organizations reported mass killings of civilians. These organizations warned that the seizure of the city could deepen Sudan’s de facto division, with some areas under RSF control and others under the national army.
RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, later admitted that violations had occurred and announced the formation of investigative committees in this regard.
It is noteworthy that, according to the United Nations and local reports, nearly 20,000 people have been killed and more than 15 million displaced since the civil war between the Sudanese army and the RSF began in April 2023.
