By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Victims of alleged war crimes perpetrated by Sudan’s paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Tuesday asked prosecutors in Kenya to investigate torture and sexual violence allegations by members of the group.
It is the first attempt to prosecute members of the RSF outside the country, a group that has been fighting against the Sudanese military for over three years, outside Sudan.
The group, which has been accused by rights organizations of committing atrocities amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has ties with Kenya’s government.
Kenyan President William Ruto had in the past hosted RSF leader Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo for talks fiercely criticised. But Ruto denied any wrongdoing, claiming the meeting was aimed at advancing peace efforts in Sudan.
The complaint filed by the global legal organization Legal Action Worldwide details torture and sexual violence committed by RSF members at various locations in and around Khartoum between April 2023 and March 2025 when the Sudanese capital was controlled by the paramilitaries.
The 12 victims are urging Kenya’s Director of Public Prosecutions to approve charges against 10 members of the RSF, some of whom are believed to be residing in Kenya.
According to this latest complaint, the victims were held in inhumane conditions, with little or no food, limited access to water, and inadequate sanitation facilities.
They allege that they were beaten, burned, suffocated, subjected to electric shocks, and sexually abused, including through rape. Some were reportedly forced to transport dead bodies from detention facilities.
Legal Action Worldwide founder Antonia Mulvey said Kenya should consider prosecuting the alleged crimes under the country’s International Crimes Act of 2008.
“For Sudanese victims, it represents a rare and urgent needed pathway to justice at a time when accountability options remain extremely limited. Sudan’s justice system is inaccessible, unavailable and ineffective at this time”, she said.
The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023, when tensions between the two sides erupted into open conflict in Khartoum and other parts of the country.
The group emerged from the Arab Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities in the early 2000s against communities identifying as East or Central African in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
