• Doctors Without Borders reports that almost half a million people have fled to Women and girls have described being raped, beaten, detained, and forced to witness the killings of loved ones by groups of armed men.
• Between July and December 2023, some 135 of the patients who presented to an MSF medical facility in eastern Chad disclosed that they were survivors of rape.

 

It has been 11 months of war in Sudan as the country’s army fights with the paramilitary group, RSF.

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reports that almost half a million people have fled to the West Darfur region to neighbouring Chad where the organization provides medical care near the border.

Women and girls have described being raped, beaten, detained, and forced to witness the killings of loved ones by groups of armed men.

Many have suffered hidden wounds, physically and psychologically, and now live in almost total destitution among a vast refugee population in makeshift camps.

Between July and December 2023, some 135 of the patients who presented to an MSF medical facility in eastern Chad disclosed that they were survivors of rape.

All are women or girls, between 14 and 40 years old, and most were attacked before their arrival in Chad.

The attackers were armed in 90 per cent of cases.

“In Sudan, they killed without hesitation, even children, I saw it with my own eyes,” said one refugee who sought safety in the border town of Adré.

“They raped women, also in groups. I focus on God to help me,” a victim told the organization.