Victims of alleged atrocities linked to the war in Sudan have asked Kenyan prosecutors to investigate claims of torture and sexual violence by members of a notorious paramilitary group.
It is the first attempt to prosecute members of the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, outside Sudan.
The paramilitary group has been fighting against the Sudanese military for over three years.
The group has been accused by human rights organisations of committing atrocities amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Kenyan President William Ruto has previously hosted RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo for talks that he said were aimed at advancing peace efforts in Sudan, a move that sparked diplomatic tensions.
The complaint was filed by the group Legal Action Worldwide. It claims that RSF members committed acts of torture and sexual violence at various locations in and around Khartoum between April 2023 and March 2025.
The Sudanese capital was controlled by the paramilitaries at the time.
The 12 alleged 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.
The RSF has been contacted for comment.
According to the 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 Kenya, despite the sensitivity of the matter, it is an opportunity to lead in the fight against impunity. Authorities can now demonstrate the strength of the country’s investigative, prosecutorial, and judicial institutions in addressing the most serious international crimes, regardless of where they are committed,” 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 notorious 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.
The RSF has been accused by human rights organizations and the United Nations of committing atrocities during the conflict that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in Darfur, where the group maintains a strong presence.
Ms Mulvey argued that the victims are unlikely to obtain justice in Sudan because the country’s justice system is currently “inaccessible, unavailable, and ineffective”.
She said that the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction is limited to Darfur and does not extend to crimes committed in or around Khartoum.
Willis Otieno, a lawyer in Kenya who filed the complaint locally, said there was information suggesting that some of the persons of interest have links to Kenya and that the country possesses the legal framework necessary to investigate and prosecute such crimes.
Mr Otieno described Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as competent, adding: “We have faith that the office will act. For now, let’s treat them with that goodwill.”
The RSF has in the past been accused of mass killing, gang rape, and ethnicity-motivated crimes, most recently in October during an assault on the Darfur city of el-Fasher, in which over 6,000 people were killed in three days. UN-commissioned experts have described the offensive as bearing the “hallmarks of genocide”.
In one of its last decisions, the Biden administration accused the group of genocide and imposed sanctions of its commanders, including Mr Dagalo.
The war killed at least 59,000 people over the course of three years, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a US-based war tracking group.
It said that the toll was almost certainly undercut given the difficulties in reporting.
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