NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Victims of alleged atrocities linked to the war in Sudan on Tuesday asked prosecutors in Kenya to investigate allegations 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, the paramilitary group 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, while Kenyan President William Ruto has previously hosted RSF leader Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo for talks that he said were aimed at advancing peace efforts in Sudan, a move that sparked diplomatic tensions.
The complaint filed by the Switzerland-based 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.
The Associated Press has contacted the RSF for a comment.
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 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.
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 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.
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. U.N.-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 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 U.S.-based war tracking group which said the toll was almost certainly undercut given the difficulties in reporting.
The conflict has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with about 34 million people — almost two out of every three Sudanese — need assistance, according to the U.N.
———-
Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
Lawyers Antonia Mulvay, left, and Willis Otieno, center, who are part of the legal team filing a law suit against Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on behalf of Sudanese torture victims, speak to the media in Nairobi, Tuesday June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Jackson Njehia)
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Nordic and Baltic leaders who were in Estonia for a regional summit Tuesday, a visit that comes amid friction over Ukrainian drones straying into the region in recent months.
The drones have crashed into the chimney of a power plant in Estonia, hit empty fuel tanks in Latvia and been shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania. Ukrainian officials apologized, saying the drones had been aimed at military targets in Russia but were sent off course by Russian electronic interference.
Estonia hosted the summit in its capital of Tallinn amid Russia's 4-year-old, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Estonia holds the rotating presidency of the NB8, a regional grouping of the five Nordic and three Baltic countries, and brought together the bloc’s prime ministers, along with Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy and Estonian President Alar Karis agreed to work on cheaper ways to shoot down drones that have flown over Estonia, including one that a NATO fighter jet shot down over the south of the country in May.
“We have shown that we can shoot the drones down with the planes,” Karis said at a news conference. Using fighter jets to shoot down the drones is expensive, he added, so he hopes to partner with Ukraine for its technology and expertise to do it more cheaply.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to do so, drawing on its experience with helping countries in the Middle East shoot down drones, where it had sent experts to train local forces. “We did this in the Middle East, and it worked,” he said.
He said Ukraine could offer the low-cost interceptor drones it has deployed at home to build an inexpensive shield against Russian drone attacks, and that Kyiv could send experts to its European partners “at any moment.”
Karis said he expects drones to cross into Baltic airspace as the war continues and urged the public to remain calm. Estonia and the other Baltic nations are among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in its war against Russia.
Zelenskyy said his talks with the leaders had focused on advancing diplomacy, strengthening air defenses and Ukraine’s path to European Union membership. He said Kyiv had met the conditions to open its accession negotiations and urged the bloc to approve them this summer.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels that Ukraine is “making extraordinary progress” on reforms to allow it to join the EU and that “it’s high time for us also now to deliver.”
Prospective members must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, ranging from agriculture to trade in a process that can take years.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine and Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs signed a drone deal to deepen joint defense and co-production.
Russia, meanwhile, kept up its strikes across Ukraine. In the northeastern Kharkiv region, three people were killed and 25 others, including three children, were wounded in attacks in the past 24 hours, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional administration.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, three people were wounded when several districts came under attack overnight, said regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.
Russia launched 166 long-range strike drones and two guided missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said, with air defenses shooting down 146 of the drones.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its defenses downed 140 drones overnight. A woman was killed when a Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in the Belgorod region neighboring Ukraine, regional emergency officials said.In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine is “making extraordinary progress” on reforms to allow it to join the EU and that “it’s high time for us also now to deliver.”
Zelenskyy said he had pressed for tougher sanctions on Russia, including its shadow fleet. He also held talks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses.
“All of our partners now note that Ukraine’s positions on the front are significantly stronger, and so our diplomacy, which we are working to step up, must proceed from that,” Zelenskyy said. “Unfortunately, Russia is trying to make up for its enormous battlefield losses with strikes on our cities and communities, and on civilian infrastructure.”
In Brussels, Von der Leyen announced proposals for new sanctions against Russia targeting its energy, financial and trade sectors, including fisheries for the first time with a ban on cod, among other measures.
She also proposed banning EU entry for “anyone who has served in the Russian armed forces since the beginning of the war” to ensure that Europe stays off-limits "for anyone who has participated in the invasion of Ukraine.”
The sanctions must be endorsed by the 27 EU member countries before they can come into force.
On Monday, Zelenskyy said he had held positive talks with U.S. representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during a stopover at an airport in Moldova’s capital, describing them as focused on ending the war. In a social media post, he said the two sides discussed diplomatic prospects ahead of this month’s Group of Seven summit, and that he had briefed the U.S. side on Ukraine’s assessment of Russia’s intentions.
Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal, right, talks with Latvia's Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs during their meeting at the Stenbock House in Tallinn, Estonia, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrun Mjoll Frostadottir, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Latvia's Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, Lithuania's Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene and Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, from left, attend a Nordic and Baltic countries meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a Nordic and Baltic countries meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal , left, and Latvia's Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs attend a Nordic and Baltic countries meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, a rescue worker puts out a fire of a storage facility after a Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, a damaged building burns after a Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
