The aid group, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders – MSF), published a report on Monday demonstrating the extent of casualties, gender-based violence, and ethnic violence occurring in the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The report, “A war on people – The human cost of conflict and violence in Sudan,” shows that Sudanese civilians have suffered horrendous levels of violence during the conflict, which has lasted for more than a year. In just one of the hospitals MSF supports, the Al Nao hospital in Omdurman, there had been a total of 6,776 war-wounded patients from August 15, 2023, to April 30, 2024, with at least 399 deaths. In another, Bashair Teaching Hospital in Khartoum, MSF teams treated 4,393 patients with trauma-related injuries from May 2023 to April 2024. The war is inflicting not only the physical and mental wounds of violence but also “violence on people’s mental health and psychological wellbeing, with widespread trauma-related symptoms sometimes leading patients to self-harm,” says the report.
The report also pointed out that sexual and gender-based violence is pervasive in the country but has been critically underreported. Data from MSF facilities in Chad show that from July to December 2023, 135 victims came to MSF in Adre, Chad, reporting cases of rape, abduction, and exploitation, and 90 percent of the cases were perpetrated by armed men.
In some regions, such as Western Darfur and South Darfur, there had been ethnic-based violence targeting the Masalit tribe. Within a three-day period in June 2023, MSF teams in Chad had treated over 800 patients, most of whom were Masalit.
Based on these findings, MSF called on the SAF, the RSF, and all armed groups to honor their international obligations by protecting civilians and stopping all attacks on residential areas, ensuring safe passage for those fleeing violence, protecting infrastructure and facilitating humanitarian access, and stopping all forms of violence and abuse. Meanwhile, it also called on partnering states, the UN, the African Union, and other humanitarian agencies to exert pressure on the warring parties, amplify the call for humanitarian intervention, scale up field presence, and support asylum seekers and refugees.
“The violence of the warring parties is compounded by obstructions: by blocking, interfering and choking services when people need them most, stamps and signatures can be just as deadly as bullets and bombs in Sudan,” MSF General Director Vickie Hawkins said.
The military conflict between the two armed groups in Sudan has entered its second year after it started in April 2023, raising concern over the already precarious humanitarian situation in the country. In February 2024, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) alleged that thousands of incidents of human rights abuses had occurred during the conflict, including attacks in densely populated residential areas and widespread sexual violence. Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that more than 10 million civilians, which represent over 20 percent of the country’s population, have been displaced due to the conflict. Many of them have crossed borders into neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt.
