OMM Newsroom
The Sudan Doctors Network warned on Thursday that health and humanitarian conditions are worsening for more than 6,500 people held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Geneina, West Darfur, amid food shortages and rising daily deaths.
The independent medical group said it had received “reliable information” that military personnel and civilians were being held at several detention centres in the city. Among them are 709 women and around 500 children under the age of 18.
The sites include the former headquarters of the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), the headquarters of the 15th Infantry Division and Ardamata Prison, the network said.
It warned that shortages of food and deteriorating health conditions posed serious risks to thousands of detainees. The group reported an increase in daily deaths and called for urgent action to establish their causes and ensure detainees receive adequate food and medical care.
The network urged authorities to provide all detainees with safe drinking water, food and health care, and to allow independent medical and humanitarian organisations to assess conditions at the facilities.
It also called for the disclosure of detainees’ whereabouts and fate, guarantees for their safety and protection from torture and ill-treatment, and special safeguards for women and children. The RSF did not comment on the allegations.
Sudanese authorities and rights groups estimate that 19,800 people, including military personnel, civilians, women and children, are being held in RSF-run detention facilities.
In June, Sudan submitted a memorandum to the UN Security Council calling for urgent intervention over what it described as “grave and systematic violations of international humanitarian law” against thousands of civilians and prisoners of war in RSF-controlled detention centres in Darfur.
The RSF controls all five states in western Sudan’s Darfur region, apart from parts of North and West Darfur that remain under army control. The army controls most of the country’s other states, including the capital, Khartoum.
War between Sudan’s army and the RSF has continued since April 2023, after disagreements over integrating the paramilitary force into the military. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and 13 million displaced, while the conflict has fuelled famine and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
