Sudan investigation maps commanders linked to wartime rape

On the day the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered el-Fasher in October 2025, a video posted on TikTok showed one of the paramilitary group’s commanders addressing fighters. She appeared to be encouraging fighters to rape women in Sudan’s Northern State, hundreds of kilometres from el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

“The Northern State? You’ll just go for its women, so you cleanse their lineage and bring [brave] sons just like you.”

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The speaker was Khademallah Khashmin Herika, also known as Shiraz Khalid, a major commanding the RSF’s female contingent, according to the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR).

The British open-source investigative organisation describes her words as an explicit incitement to rape. It could not establish exactly where the video, posted on October 26, 2025, was filmed. Separate footage placed Herika in el-Fasher and in Garni, where survivors described girls being detained and raped.

Herika is among 25 commanders identified in a CIR investigation into sexual violence in Sudan’s war. Published on Monday, a year after her video was posted, it examines five locations and periods of reported abuse, linking commanders’ appearances and roles to evidence gathered by the United Nations, rights groups and Sudanese organisations.

The findings cover both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces, which have been fighting a three-year-long war, as well as their allied forces. They identify commanders who exercised authority where atrocities were reported, but do not establish that each personally committed or ordered acts of rape.

Investigators checked identities, locations and, where possible, filming dates, with commander sightings independently verified by two analysts. They compared that record with survivor accounts, reported incidents, threatening rhetoric, and indicators of heightened risk, including forced separation of men and women.

The UN fact-finding mission documented mass and gang rape during the RSF takeover of el-Fasher, including at the Saudi Hospital and el-Fasher University. Women and girls were also attacked along escape routes out of the city.

CIR’s report cites a survivor who described being held with other girls at soldiers’ quarters near Garni and raped over two nights. Her family’s detention for ransom further delayed her access to specialist medical care.

Verified appearances of RSF commanders in and around el-Fasher, from October 25 to November 30, 2025 [Map by CIR]

The chain of command

The most senior RSF officer identified around el-Fasher was Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, deputy commander and brother of RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

CIR verified him at the army’s former 6th Infantry Division base on October 26, 2025, and at the Saudi Hospital on November 4.

In separate drone footage from October 27, a voice instructs artillery commander Hussein Abu Jalak to pursue vehicles fleeing an earth embankment outside the city, associated with civilian detention and executions. CIR matched the voice to Dagalo by manually comparing it with other verified recordings of him speaking.

RSF sector commander Gedo Hamdan Ahmed, known as Ibn Shouk, also appears across the investigation: at Zamzam displacement camp during the RSF’s April 2025 assault, then around el-Fasher during its takeover six months later.

His appearances connect two offensives under the same regional command, but they do not establish his responsibility for a specific sexual assault.

Abuaqla Mohamed Ahmed Alwakil, known as Kaykal, outside a hospital at Wad al-Mehidi, as commander of the pro-army Sudan Shield Forces, on January 11, 2025. Annotations by CIR [CIR]

A commander on both sides

Another officer appears on opposing sides of the war.

Abuaqla Mohamed Ahmed Alwakil, known as Kaykal, was appointed commander of an RSF division in Wad Madani on December 19, 2023, according to an RSF announcement cited by CIR.

Investigators verified him at a former army base there on December 24. The same day, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa documented the rape of seven women at the city’s Industrial School.

The following day, RSF captain Samar Ibrahim Tirab appeared about 750 metres from the school, dismissing reports of rape and looting as lies.

In October 2024, Kaykal defected to the army’s side. When army and allied forces recaptured Wad Madani in January 2025, CIR verified him in the city and nearby Wad al-Mehidi, now commanding the Sudan Shield Forces.

The United Nations human rights office reported that Sudan Shield fighters abducted 13 women and a man from Tayba camp on January 10. Human Rights Watch separately recorded witnesses identifying attackers as Kaykal’s forces. Radio Dabanga reported allegations of rape by the group in Tayba and other settlements.

The army’s allies

In Gezira, southeast of Khartoum, CIR also examined abuses against Kanabi communities, historically marginalised settlements made up of descendants of migrant agricultural workers. These communities faced attacks amid accusations of supporting the RSF.

Verified footage from Hantoub Bridge shows fighters beating and sexually degrading a detained man before pushing him off the bridge. CIR identified insignia associated with the army-allied Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, General Intelligence Service and Special Mission Forces.

The most senior army officer CIR placed in Wad Madani during the recapture was Major-General Abdelmoneim Abdelbasit Mohamed, commander of the Sennar axis, identified on January 12, 2025.

His presence is part of CIR’s assessment of command structures, but it does not establish that he directed the filmed attack.

Al Jazeera contacted the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces to ask for a response to the findings laid out in this article, but received no response.

Both the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have previously denied allegations of sexual violence by their personnel.

UK sanctions

On October 26, Britain imposed sanctions on 15 senior commanders from Sudan’s rival forces over suspected atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence.

The measures include asset freezes and travel bans. Among those named were Abu Jalak and Al-Nour Ahmed Adam, known as al-Qubba, whom the UK Foreign Office linked to the siege and assault on el-Fasher.

The UK government said the announcement followed CIR reporting on sexual violence and starvation. It also pledged 5 million pounds ($6.7m) for survivors, including healthcare and psychosocial support, and a further 10 million pounds ($13.4m) for humanitarian assistance.

The 15 sanctions designations are a separate list from the 25 commanders cited in CIR’s report, and sanctions do not equate to criminal convictions.

What the evidence can establish

CIR says it has reasonable grounds to believe the commanders identified were directly or indirectly responsible for sexual violence. It also explicitly states that data limitations prevent it from attributing individual responsibility for specific incidents.

Presence, rank and repeated appearances can guide further investigation; but they cannot alone establish criminal guilt. A command-responsibility case would also require evidence about effective control, knowledge and failures to take necessary measures to prevent, repress or report crimes.

For survivors, stigma, insecurity and inaccessible services still obstruct both treatment and testimony. The investigation preserves another source of evidence: the images fighters recorded themselves.