HUMAN Rights Watch accused a paramilitary group in war-torn Sudan today of committing widespread sexual violence against women, including rape, gang rape and forced and child marriage.

The New York-based organisation called on the United Nations and the African Union to establish a joint mission to protect civilians as more than 15 months of fighting between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has shown no signs of abating.

“The Rapid Support Forces have raped, gang-raped and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas in Sudan’s capital,” said deputy Africa director Laetitia Bader.

The group also accused both warring parties of blocking survivors’ access to critical emergency care and said that the military had “wilfully restricted” the movement of humanitarian supplies and aid workers into RSF-controlled areas since October last year.

The RSF has pillaged medical supplies and occupied medical facilities, Human Rights Watch said, adding that its fighters have also committed sexual violence against service workers.

In a report published on Sunday, the group said it had documented widespread sexual violence against women, as well as forced and child marriage, in Khartoum and the nearby cities of Omdurman and Bahri.

These acts constitute “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” it said.

The group blamed the RSF for most of the cases, but some were also attributed to the military. Men and boys have also been raped, including in detention, the report added.

International experts warned last month that 755,000 people are facing famine in the coming months and that 8.5 million people are suffering extreme food shortages.

The war has killed more than 14,000 people and wounded 33,000, according to the United Nations, but the true toll could be far higher.

It has also created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with over 11 million people affected.