Updated: 15 April 2026 19:40:35
From Khartoum to Nyala: Women Between Army Detention and RSF Prisons
Khartoum / Nyala, April 15, 2026 (Jabraka News) — Since the outbreak of war in Sudan in 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the lives of thousands of civilians have turned into a cycle of violations, displacement, and fear. Among the most affected are women and girls, who have found themselves at the center of the conflict—caught between arbitrary detention, sexual violence, and social stigma.
Four testimonies obtained by Jabraka News—shared under pseudonyms due to the sensitivity of their situations—reveal part of the suffering endured by women during the war. They shed light on violations committed in areas controlled by different parties to the conflict, amid the collapse of justice institutions and the declining ability of civilians to seek protection.
A War on Women’s Bodies
The war has not been limited to military confrontation in the streets; women’s bodies have become another battleground.
Testimonies from local and international organizations indicate a sharp rise in gender-based violence since the fighting began. Sudan’s Combating Violence Against Women Unit documented dozens of sexual assault cases during the early months of the war, while the United Nations Population Fund warned of increasing risks of sexual violence and exploitation targeting women and girls, particularly during displacement or in areas where services have collapsed.
Researchers note that the use of sexual violence in conflict is not new in Sudan. International reports previously documented its widespread use during the Darfur war since 2003.
Salma: A Victim of Both Sides in Detention
Salma says her life has completely changed since the war broke out in Khartoum. She used to run a small restaurant with one of her daughters, before her life—and that of her family—turned into a series of fear and persecution.
She recounts that one of her daughters was assaulted by a member of the Rapid Support Forces after demanding payment for food he had taken from the restaurant, resulting in her arm being broken. She also describes being taken by an RSF member to a place known as “Negative Phenomena,” near Kalakla Al-Lafa market, where she was accused of being the wife of an army soldier, despite being unmarried.
However, what she describes as the most devastating moment in her life occurred in July 2025, when RSF-affiliated fighters attacked her home. She says they climbed over the wall, assaulted the family physically and verbally, and that her two daughters were raped during the attack.
She adds that the threats did not stop even after the army entered the area. According to her account, individuals previously affiliated with the RSF continued to attack her home and threaten her.
In April 2025, Salma says she was assaulted again—this time by individuals who claimed to belong to the army—resulting in an eye injury, while her daughters were beaten with sticks inside the house.
She recounts attempting to file a complaint at a police station in Kalakla, but says a soldier told her to “come back later,” adding, “You are all Janjaweed collaborators living with them,” which made her feel completely unprotected.
She adds that fear sometimes drove her to lift her daughters onto the roof at night so they could sleep.
In another incident, armed men attacked her home while a neighbor was visiting. The neighbor went to open the door but never returned. She says she fled by climbing over the wall into neighboring houses, only to discover the next morning that the neighbor had been killed.
Later, Salma and her three daughters—including a minor—were arrested. She says those accused of killing the neighbor were later identified as army-affiliated fighters. She adds: “We were arrested a third time on charges of collaborating with the RSF, and we remained in detention for several months before the court acquitted us.”
However, two of her daughters remain in prison on charges of stealing belongings from neighbors—an accusation the family denies.
“We spent one month in Kalakla prison and five more months in the Women’s Prison in Omdurman,” she says. “We spent large sums of money on lawyers during the case.”
After her release, Salma says her life has not returned to normal: “The way neighbors treat me has changed. I feel isolated after everything I went through.”
Khadija: “I Asked Them to Kill Me”
Khadija Bakhit says her life changed from the first days of the war. Her husband is an army officer, and she lived with her family in the Kalakla area, south of Khartoum. After the fall of the Central Reserve camp in 2023, the family decided to leave, but neighbors, according to her account, informed the Rapid Support Forces about them.
She says the first force that raided the house searching for her husband treated them calmly, but later groups of armed men arrived and behaved harshly—confiscating phones and equipment and preventing the family from leaving Khartoum.
“The house raids were repeated,” she says. “The armed men would take the little money we had, and they arrested my husband’s brother.”
In August 2023, she recounts that seven armed men stormed the house searching for her husband’s documents. After finding some of them, she was beaten for attempting to hide them.
She was then taken, along with a neighbor, to a site in Abu Adam, where they were interrogated before being released two days later.
Khadija adds that she was later arrested again and held with other neighbors in a building in Al-Amarat. She describes the detention conditions as extremely harsh:
“They held us for days without food or water, in a filthy place,” she says. “I was severely beaten to the point that I asked them to kill me instead of torturing me.”
During detention, she says she saw another young woman—a singer—who had been arrested and, according to her account, subjected to repeated abuse.
Eventually, Khadija was transferred with other detainees to a site in Soba, where she was interrogated on accusations of sending information to her husband. She was released after a month of detention, after signing a pledge to remain in the neighborhood.
However, she says her life after release has remained unsafe. Her home was subjected to looting attempts, and one of her daughters was beaten by an armed man.
Sara: Detention, Torture, and Illness
Sara Hamad was arrested by the army in the Kalakla area on charges of cooperating with the Rapid Support Forces. She says she was held for a month in a police station before being transferred to the women’s prison known as “Al-Taibat” in Omdurman, where she remained for several more weeks.
She describes the detention conditions as harsh, pointing to limited food and difficulty accessing water.
“I was beaten during my detention,” she said. “But some officers treated me more humanely than others. I also fell ill while in custody and did not receive any medical treatment throughout my three months in prison.”
She adds, with a sense of relief:
“Thankfully, I was eventually brought to trial, and the court acquitted me of all charges.”
Amani: Fleeing Death, Only to End Up in Prison
Amani Osman recounts an arrest that began while she was attempting to flee Zamzam camp in North Darfur. She says she and a group of civilians left the camp at night in three vehicles, heading through a desert route toward Al-Afada camp.
One of the vehicles broke down, and when passengers turned on a light to repair it, a patrol from the Rapid Support Forces spotted them and surrounded the group.
“We told them we were civilians, but they opened fire immediately,” she said, noting that two people were killed on the spot.
The survivors were then taken to the town of Al-Malha, where men were separated from women, and children were placed in a different location.
“They forced the men to cook for RSF soldiers,” she added.
After three days of detention, the group was transferred to Nyala. “The women and children were taken to Nyala prison, while the men were sent to Dagris prison,” she said.
Amani describes the detention conditions as extremely harsh, highlighting food shortages and children crying from hunger.
“Sometimes we only ate porridge with dried okra, salt, and water,” she said.
According to her account, “some girls were taken from the prison to officers’ houses under the pretext of providing services.”
Hundreds of Women Detained in Nyala Prison
Violations during the war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces are not limited to individual cases. Human rights reports indicate that some prisons and detention centers in conflict areas have become sites of serious abuses.
In Darfur, according to a human rights report, civilian testimonies described torture, arbitrary detention, and deprivation of food and medical care in some RSF detention facilities.
In this context, a report issued by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies in March 2026 revealed that at least 643 women are being held in “Koria” prison in Nyala, South Darfur—an area under RSF control.
According to the report, detained women face multiple forms of abuse, including arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and inhumane detention conditions.
The report notes that among the detainees are: 200 women accused of collaborating with opposing parties, 247 women transferred from El Fasher without formal charges, 196 women accused of criminal offenses.
The report also documented harsh detention conditions, including food shortages and forced domestic labor carried out by some detainees for armed personnel, as well as cases of extortion in exchange for ransom.
In one case, the report states, the family of a detained woman was asked to pay five billion Sudanese pounds for her release after she was held in place of her husband.
Collapse of Justice in Wartime
The war has led to the collapse of much of Sudan’s judicial system, particularly in Darfur, where official courts have ceased functioning in many areas, creating a significant legal vacuum that has directly affected detainees.
In response, the United Nations Human Rights Council established an international fact-finding mission on Sudan to investigate violations committed since the outbreak of war. The mission concluded that parties to the conflict have committed widespread violations that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a statement to Jabraka News, lawyer Alaa Ahmed said that the legal rights of detained women in Sudan are guaranteed under the 2019 Constitutional Document and national laws, including protection from torture, access to healthcare, and the right to humane treatment.
However, she explained that the current wartime conditions have created a wide gap between legal texts and actual practice. Arbitrary detention and ill-treatment have increased, and some detainees are being tried under serious charges that may carry penalties of death or life imprisonment, while appeal and complaint mechanisms have become largely ineffective due to the security situation and the breakdown of judicial institutions.
Ahmed added that both domestic laws and international standards guarantee women accused of collaborating with parties to the conflict the right to fair trials, including protection from abuse and the right to know the reasons and circumstances of their arrest.
“But the reality is different,” she said, noting that in government-controlled areas, expedited trials lacking sufficient guarantees have been documented, while in RSF-controlled areas, there are effectively no legal trials at all—only direct orders carried out without judicial procedures, making justice nearly nonexistent.
She further explained that Sudanese law provides mechanisms for filing complaints of torture, including обращения to the public prosecutor, prison administrations, or independent bodies, along with investigations and medical examinations in line with international standards.
However, she stressed that the effectiveness of these mechanisms is severely limited during the war. Arbitrary detention and incommunicado detention prevent many women from accessing them, and many complaints fail to result in real accountability, with continued reliance on confessions suspected to have been extracted under torture.
Initiatives to Release Female Detainees
In January 2025, Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Chairman, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ordered the release of approximately 400 women from the Omdurman women’s prison.
The head of Sudan’s Combating Violence Against Women Unit, Salima Ishaq, stated that the move was part of a review of the conditions of women detained during the war and an effort to ensure fair trials.
However, testimonies obtained by Jabraka News from inside the Omdurman women’s prison indicate that hundreds of women remain in detention, particularly those accused of cooperating with the Rapid Support Forces.
A recently released detainee, Manal Jaber, told Jabraka News that most of those freed had been accused of selling alcohol or theft, while those charged with collaboration or intelligence-sharing with the RSF remain behind bars.
In a separate statement to Jabraka News, Salima Ishaq—now Minister of State at the Ministry of Social Affairs—denied the existence of women detained outside official prisons. She noted that she had visited several prisons in army-controlled areas and described the conditions as secure, saying:
“There are no solitary confinement cells—only rooms with verandas, and they are fully secure.”
Regarding allegations of abuse or mistreatment, she denied their occurrence, stating:
“There are no cases of torture. Even women detained for political reasons have not been harmed. All detainees are treated equally, and they engage in activities together.”
She added that relations between detainees and staff are positive, with access to phones allowing communication with families. She also noted that some detainees suffering from dengue fever were receiving medical care under supervision.
On women detained for political charges, such as alleged collaboration with the RSF, Ishaq said:
“Most are released after serving between five months to one year.”
She added: “Even those sentenced to death have not been executed—they understand these are procedural measures.”
She further stated that civil society organizations, human rights groups, and citizens are allowed to visit prisons and communicate with detainees.
The minister confirmed that many cases are subject to appeal and that lawyers have access to detainees. She also noted that the International Justice Organization has assigned lawyers to assist prisoners, adding that the Ministry of Social Welfare has a legal aid office, though it is currently inactive, with efforts underway to reactivate it.
Continued Arrests and Disappearances
In March 2026, media reports circulated about the arrest of several female activists and journalists in Nyala, South Darfur, following their participation in a workshop on women’s rights, peace, and security.
They were reportedly taken to unknown locations, and their fate remains unclear, with communication cut off.
These cases have raised serious concerns about their safety, particularly in the absence of legal safeguards in conflict-affected areas and the heightened risk of abuse.
In a statement issued on March 5, 2026, the Emergency Lawyers group called for the immediate disclosure of their whereabouts, their unconditional release, and guarantees that they be allowed to communicate with their families and legal representatives. The group also called for urgent action to end arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance.
Separately, on March 12, 2025, media outlets reported the release of 260 detainees from Dagris prison in Nyala by the “Ta’sis” government, describing the move as part of efforts to address prison conditions and strengthen the rule of law.
According to the “Al-Sudania” platform, Brigadier General Abboud Abu Kalam, head of the National Committee for the Adjustment of Dagris Prison Conditions, said the release was ordered by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the presidential council and commander of forces affiliated with the “Ta’sis” government.
He added that detainee files had been reviewed before their release under social guarantees provided by community leaders.
Jabraka News was unable to verify whether any of those released included women detained in RSF prisons in Nyala.
Between War and Stigma
For many women who survived detention or violence, suffering does not end with release. Many face social stigma and significant challenges in rebuilding their lives.
Experts believe that achieving justice for women in Sudan requires broad legal and institutional reforms, alongside stronger protections and meaningful inclusion of women in peace processes.
However, with the war ongoing and accountability largely absent, there are growing fears that these crimes will go unpunished—and that women’s testimonies will become yet another chapter in the memory of a war that has yet to end.
- The Sudan Media Forum and its member organizations publish this report, prepared by Jabraka News, to shed light on the situation of women during the war, now in its third year, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
The report presents testimonies from women who were detained in Khartoum and Nyala, documenting various forms of abuse, including arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and inhumane detention conditions. Hundreds of women remain in detention, awaiting an uncertain fate.
This report was produced as part of a gender-sensitive journalism workshop, with support from Internews.
