El Fasher: Amnesty International accuses the RSF of recruiting children and raping teenage girls

Amnesty International has accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of recruiting boys and raping teenage girls during the siege of El Fasher in North Darfur, according to a report titled "City Under Siege, Children Under Fire" published in October 2026. Janine Morna, a researcher on children within the organization's crisis response program, detailed the findings in an interview reported on October 5, 2026, by Dabanga Sudan.

According to the organization, boys have been used by the RSF to fight, guard livestock, and gather intelligence. A commander of the group, cited in the report, claims that "about 40%" of his 90-man unit was composed of young people. Amnesty International also documents the rape of girls, including that of a 13-year-old teenager who was abducted and then raped over several days.

A generation deprived of school and food

The siege has also cut children off from the most basic necessities. None of the 39 children interviewed by the researchers had had access to school for years. The organization says it has confirmed the deaths of four children due to a lack of available food, a figure it believes is lower than the reality. In total, it claims to have documented eight of the eleven crimes against humanity listed under international law.

The report names an officer, Major General Gedo Hamdan Ahmed Mohamed, known as "Abu Shouk," whom it presents as being responsible for overseeing detentions in El Fasher. These elements are those of the organization: no jurisdiction has ruled on the matter at this stage, and the individuals accused remain presumed innocent as long as a court has not issued a verdict.

What the organization is demanding

Amnesty International makes four demands: cutting off economic support for the RSF, specifically by designating the support attributed to the United Arab Emirates; deploying independent and neutral protection forces; funding international investigation and prosecution mechanisms; and guaranteeing long-term psychosocial support for survivors.

Sudan has entered its third year of war between the army and the RSF, and El Fasher has been the focus of most of the fighting in Darfur. The report shifts the question from military tallies to another, more difficult one to repair: an entire age group removed from the school system, and families whose children have been turned into combatants or targets. International justice mechanisms remain, for now, the only recourse open to the victims.