Darfur’s Minority Groups Face Escalating Ethnic Violence
A recent United Nations report has highlighted horrific accounts of violence against minority communities in Sudan’s Darfur region, where members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have allegedly used sexual violence and threats to impose “Arab lineage” on victims from non-Arab ethnic groups. This report underscores accusations from human rights activists that the RSF is committing acts of ethnic cleansing in the region.
The UN fact-finding mission documents that RSF fighters, involved in the ongoing conflict with Sudan’s army, have engaged in widespread sexual violence, particularly targeting non-Arab ethnic groups like the Masalit, with survivors ranging in age from eight to 75. Many Masalit survivors shared chilling accounts of threats aimed at erasing their ethnic identity, with fighters stating intentions to forcibly impregnate women and alter the community’s demographics.
El Geneina, a Masalit-dominated city in West Darfur, has witnessed some of the worst violence. RSF forces reportedly went house-to-house, killing men and assaulting women, while urging the displaced to flee Sudan. The RSF, originally formed from the Janjaweed militias, has been accused of war crimes against these communities, including torture, forced displacement, and widespread sexual violence.
Caroline Buisman, the coordinator for the UN fact-finding mission, stated that the mission found evidence of targeted attacks on the Masalit community based on ethnicity, describing the violence as part of an orchestrated attempt to break the community.
Following the collapse of peacekeeping operations in Darfur in 2020, activists report that the RSF and allied militias have expanded their influence in the region. Hala Al-Karib, a prominent women’s rights advocate, warned of ongoing ethnic cleansing in Darfur, asserting that sexual violence has become a deliberate tactic for land seizure and community suppression. Dr. Marwa Gibril, a Darfuri activist, echoed this, stating that the RSF is systematically using sexual violence to reshape Darfur’s demographic landscape, forcing “Arab superiority” over indigenous communities.
Since conflict reignited in 2023 between the RSF and Sudanese forces, at least 19,000 lives have been lost and millions displaced.
