NEW YORK - The Rapid Support Forces killed scores of civilians, and injured, raped, and abducted many others in Habila and Fayu, two towns in South Kordofan state, between December 2023 and March 2024. A new HRW report documents abuses against mainly ethnic Nuba residents, which had not been widely reported previously.
The attacks on mainly ethnic Nuba residents, which had not been widely reported, constitute war crimes.
“The Rapid Support Forces’ abuse of civilians in South Kordofan is emblematic of continuing atrocities across Sudan,” said Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These new findings underscore the urgent need for the deployment of a mission to protect civilians in Sudan.”
Researchers interviewed 70 displaced people, 40 of them survivors of RSF attacks on Habila, Fayu, and neighboring villages, and analyzed satellite imagery of the area from December 2023 to October 2024. Researchers also spoke with 24 other people, including aid workers, local officials, and others with knowledge of the area.
Human Rights Watch documented the killings of 56 unarmed people in these attacks, including 11 women and 1 child, based on interviews with witnesses. The RSF killed people both execution-style in homes and by shooting them on the streets. The actual figures may be significantly higher, given that most people fled in various directions after the attacks.
Human Rights Watch also documented the rape of 79 women and girls, including in the context of sexual slavery, based on interviews with survivors, witnesses, and relatives and friends of the victims.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias carried out numerous abuses against civilians in Habila county in Sudan’s South Kordofan state from December 2023 to March 2024, during conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North.
The abuses constitute war crimes and included killings, rapes, and abductions of ethnic Nuba residents, as well as the looting and destruction of homes. They led to mass displacement, turning Habila and neighboring Fayu into ghost towns.
The United Nations and the African Union should urgently deploy a mission to protect civilians in Sudan.