Head of UN-backed team of experts cites paramilitary force in Sudan for sexual violence as war rages

Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The head of a U.N.-backed fact-finding team looking into human rights violations and abuses in Sudan says the team found the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces responsible for large-scale sexual violence in areas that it controls. Mohamed Chande Othman has denounced “staggering violence” in Sudan since war broke out more than 18 months ago between the Sudanese military and the RSF. He said his team of independent experts would also investigate “credible” allegations of sexual exploitation by the Sudanese armed forces. Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions including western Darfur.