We stand firm against the enforced disappearance, torture and mass killing of women and children in North Darfur

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network strongly condemns the abduction and enforced disappearance of women and children by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and affiliated militia in and around El Fasher. Such conduct is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

 Since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, SIHA has documented more than 291 cases of enforced disappearance and abduction of women, girls, and children across Sudan.

The crime of enforced disappearance has been worsening in Darfur over the past year, confirming that these crimes are being committed in a systematic manner, using the civilian population, predominantly the bodies of women and children, as targets of war.

 Since the beginning of August 2025, crimes of kidnapping and enforced disappearance of women and children in El Fasher City and Abu Shouk Displaced Camp have become the norm due to the increasing expansion of the RSF in the city.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the RSF  raided a house in the Al-Wadi neighbourhood and kidnapped Suad Haroun (64 years old) , Amna Haroun (68 years old), Awatif Saleh (65 years old), Tayamun Ahmed Al-Tijani (5 years old,  Tanizil Ahmed Al-Tijani (12 years old), Mohamed Ahmed Al-Tijani (15 years old, male), and Maryam Majrous (65 years old). All were taken to an unknown location.

We have also confirmed additional cases of kidnapping and enforced disappearance which occurred on August 23, 2025,  where the following victims were been taken from Abu Shouk Camp, to an unknown location by RSF: Halima Adam (50 years old—Block 14; Heba Mohammedin (18 years old, female); Aisha Adam (50 years old)—displaced from Kutum; Zainab Suleiman Abdullah (55 years old)—Block 1 M7; Fatima Mohamed Hajar (30 years old); and Jamila Ahmed Ali (30 years old) were all taken to unknown locations. 

In March 2025, we documented the abduction of 30 women and children from Kraso Village in Eastern El Fasher and Hai El Thura. They were taken to a medical supply building located east of El Fasher that is currently serving as an incarceration centre, where women and children were forced into various forms of labour and subjected to sexual violence.

There are many similar cases that have not reached us due to the dangerous security situation, internet outages, and the difficulty of communicating with families. 

These systematic acts against women, children, and the elderly are not isolated incidents but rather part of a deliberate policy to terrorize civilians. Enforced disappearance, sexual violence, mass execution, and the targeting of vulnerable groups are all serious violations criminalized by international conventions and require urgent accountability.

 Darfur has suffered cycles of atrocities and genocidal acts, forced evacuation, and mass killing for more than 22 years. It is imperative for the international community and the United Nations (UN) to take decisive action to halt this suffering.

In light of this, as SIHA Network, we:

1. Demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those enforced disappeared and for their return to their families.
2. Urgently call for the RSF to lift the siege on El Fasher to facilitate humanitarian access and rescue civilians caught in the violence.
3. Demand a stop to all external interference in the conflict, including supplying weapons, in line with the arms embargo in Darfur.
4. Demand that all warring parties fully comply with United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2736 (2024), starting with the immediate cessation of hostilities. In the absence of this, the UNSC must urgently consider all other options, including the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Darfur to protect civilians on the ground.

We must hold all perpetrators of Darfur crimes accountable, including Al-Bashir, his accomplices and current perpetrators, to contribute to peace and stability in the region. Justice will always be the foundation of peace and peaceful coexistence.

 The situation unfolding in El Fasher constitutes a grave violation of international law. Darfur has witnessed cycles of genocidal acts and mass killing in front of the eyes of the international actors. We call on you to take serious steps to protect the women and children of Darfur and lift the siege on El Fasher before it is too late.