\n<\/p>\n
In Sudan, victims of sexual violence are often forced to suffer in silence, their tears shed where no one can hear them. But for women like Mariam*, the horror of war followed her even as she tried to flee.<\/p>\n
Attempting to escape from Gezira State to Khartoum early last year, Mariam\u2019s vehicle was stopped by armed men. She was the only passenger singled out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were coming from Gezira State\u2026 They stopped us on the street and forced us down,\u201d Mariam told Al Jazeera Arabic\u2019s correspondent Asma Mohammed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said they wanted to search us. Two of them consulted with each other, then called me over,\u201d she recounted, her voice trembling. \u201cThey took me to a place\u2026 It was an empty room with a mattress. They told me to lie down, and then they raped me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mariam returned to her family in the waiting car, shattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told us immediately what happened\u2026 How many of them there were,\u201d her aunt told Al Jazeera. \u201cOf course, they were from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).\u201d<\/p>\n
Mariam\u2019s story is not unique. In el-Fasher, the tragedy repeats itself with even greater brutality.<\/p>\n
Um Kulthum*, a medical student, told Al Jazeera she was forced to witness mass rape and murder before becoming a victim herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RSF forces entered \u2026 and besieged the area,\u201d Um Kulthum said. \u201cThey killed my uncle, the one who raised me \u2026 right in front of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were four girls, along with our neighbour\u2019s daughter. The RSF forces then gang-raped us in a brutal manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
These exclusive accounts align with a harrowing new report released last November by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), which documented nearly 1,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence across 14 states since the war began in April 2023.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Al Jazeera in November, Hala Al-Karib, the regional director of SIHA, explained that these are not random acts, but a strategy rooted in viewing women as \u201cproperty\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cKidnappings often occur at the beginning of an invasion\u2026 When homes are entered, there is a specific question asked: \u2018Is there a girl in this house? Are there young women?’\u201d Al-Karib said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have heard from many witnesses who were told by RSF soldiers: \u2018I am coming to take this girl.’\u201d<\/p>\n
The violence extends beyond immediate assault to long-term captivity. Al-Karib described a terrifying reality of \u201csexual slavery\u201d and forced labour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen are kidnapped for \u2018sexual slavery\u2019, specifically young, middle-aged women, and also to serve the soldiers \u2013 forced labour, washing clothes, cooking,\u201d Al-Karib told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
Even more disturbingly, she revealed that the exploitation has crossed international lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen are also kidnapped for the purpose of enslavement and sale in markets,\u201d Al-Karib said. \u201cThey are transported across the border to African countries neighbouring Sudan.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that women\u2019s bodies are being used \u201cas weapons in this war \u2026 to defeat communities\u201d, leaving survivors crushed by stigma and often refusing to return to their families out of shame.<\/p>\n
The systematic nature of these crimes was further confirmed by Arnold Tsunga, a lawyer and former Africa director for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), who led a fact-finding mission to eastern Chad to interview refugees fleeing the violence.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic from Harare, Tsunga described his mission to Adre and Geneina as \u201cheartbreaking\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RSF are the ones who attacked the Masalit group\u2026 They were the majority of those subjected to sexual violence and rape,\u201d Tsunga said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is sad to see that violence is now being used systematically as a means and weapon of war \u2026 to forcibly remove people from their land and to punish Masalit men who tried to defend their land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsunga warned that the collapse of the rule of law has created an \u201cabsolute environment\u201d for these crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RSF are now the responsible authority in these areas\u2026 There are no justice institutions working,\u201d he explained. \u201cImpunity leads to more impunity \u2026 and this problem is related to rewarding criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scale of the violence has overwhelmed local hospitals. At the Omdurman Maternity Hospital, the director general described a pattern of atrocities that spares no one \u2013 not even babies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rapes are in very large numbers, far more than what is recorded,\u201d Imad al-Din Abdullah al-Siddiq told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 14 female infants less than the age of two were raped. An infant! This is documented by NGOs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Al-Siddiq noted that the hospital received a flood of victims aged 11 to 23, mostly unmarried girls. \u201cThey come as a result of pregnancy\u2026 Abortions were performed for those less than three months\u2026 For those more than three months, we didn\u2019t have a licence to abort, so the pregnancy continued, and births took place here.\u201d<\/p>\n
UNICEF has confirmed more than 200 cases of sexual assault on children since the start of 2024, some less than the age of five.<\/p>\n
The SIHA report outlines a calculated three-stage pattern accompanying RSF advances: Initial home invasions and looting accompanied by rape, followed by attacks in public spaces, and finally long-term detention.<\/p>\n
This violence occurs against a backdrop of worsening famine. The United Nations\u2019 World Food Programme warned it will cut rations in Sudan from January due to severe funding gaps, leaving millions at risk of starvation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting. The United Kingdom recently sanctioned four senior RSF commanders over alleged mass killings and sexual violence.<\/p>\n
But for survivors like Mariam and Um Kulthum, the diplomatic moves offer little solace. As Al-Karib noted, the international investment in reintegrating these women remains \u201cvery, very small\u201d.<\/p>\n
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of survivors.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Sudan, victims of sexual violence are often forced to suffer in silence, their tears shed where no one can hear them. But for women like Mariam*, the horror of war followed her even as she tried to flee. Attempting to escape from Gezira State to Khartoum early last year, Mariam\u2019s vehicle was stopped by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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