A fierce power struggle between the army and the RSF has left tens of thousands dead and forced more than 11 million people from their homes since the conflict began in April 2023.
The head of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, visited an aid center in Port Sudan this week and told the BBC that the country could face the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis if a ceasefire is not reached.
She warned that millions of people could die of starvation.
Reports of paramilitary fighters rampaging in Gezira followed the recent defection of Abu Aql Qaik, the top RSF commander in the state, to the army.
“The RSF has launched a campaign of revenge in areas under the control of Abu Qayq. They looted, killed civilians who resisted, and raped women and little girls,” the head of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, Hala al-Karib (Sikha), told the BBC.
Siha, who documented gender-based violence in Sudan during the war, confirmed three cases of female suicide in the past week in Gezira state, she said.
Ms Karib said two were in Al Seriha village and the third in Rufa town.
The sister of the woman who committed suicide in the village told Sihi that it happened after she was raped by RSF soldiers in front of her father and brother. Two men were later killed.
Over the past week, a series of videos have been released online showing dozens of bodies wrapped in blankets, victims of an alleged massacre by the RSF in al-Serich.
BBC Verify was able to match the location of this footage to the courtyard of a mosque in Al Seriha.
Suicides were reported in only two districts of the 50 or so villages recently attacked, Ms. Karib said, adding that the number could be higher because mobile coverage was patchy.
A women’s activist from Gezira, who asked not to be named because she feared for her life, told the BBC that she had confirmed reports of women taking their own lives after their husbands were killed by the RSF.
She saw WhatsApp messages from one woman describing how her sister committed suicide after being raped by RSF militiamen who also killed five of her brothers and some uncles also in Al-Serich.
But like Siha, she said it was impossible to verify social media reports of mass suicides by women fearing rape, given communication problems.
An 80-page UN report on Tuesday said at least 400 survivors of sexual violence had been documented between the start of the conflict and July 2024, with the real figure believed to be much higher.
“The scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chairman of the UN team that compiled the report.
The documented victims ranged in age from eight to 75 – many in need of medical attention – but most hospitals and clinics were destroyed in the fighting, the UN said.
RSF spokesman Nizar Syed Ahmed told the BBC: “These allegations are false and not based on evidence.
“To establish the facts on the ground, the UN should send a fact-finding team to Sudan,” he said.
Ms Karib told the BBC that Siha had tried to keep in touch with six women who were afraid of RSF’s advances and were considering suicide.
She said Siha provided them with psychological support as the activists tried to figure out how they could move them to safer places.
She also said they are trying to help a 13-year-old girl who was gang-raped by RSF fighters in Gezira and needs urgent medical attention.
She said the girl was currently traveling from her home village north of Ruff to the town of New Halfa and was bleeding profusely.
Additional reporting by the BBC’s Anne Soi and BBC Verify’s Peter Mwai.
