Militiamen, soldiers accused of sexual violence in war-torn country
Militants mired in a 15-month civil war have been accused of sexual violence, including rape and torture, in Sudan's capital Khartoum.
Gunmen from the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group roamed Sudan's capital gang raping «countless» women and girls, some as young as nine, according to an investigation documenting the shocking extent of sexual violence in Khartoum during the country's civil war.
Some attacks by the Rapid Support Forces were so brutal that women and girls died «due to rape-related violence,» according to research by human rights groups, The Guardian reports.
Women and girls from areas of Khartoum captured by the RSF said many were kidnapped, tortured and imprisoned as sex slaves. Mothers were raped in an attempt to protect their daughters.
Some girls told militants they were married and not virgins in an attempt to avoid being attacked, the report said.
“The Sudanese armed forces have raped, grouped and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas of the Sudanese capital,” said Letitia Bader, the rights group’s Horn of Africa director.
Shortly after civil war broke out between the Rapid Intervention Force and the Sudanese military 15 months ago, militants seized parts of Khartoum and its sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North.
Since then, access to the capital has been difficult due to fighting, but human rights researchers interviewed 42 health workers, social workers, lawyers and emergency volunteers in Khartoum to find out how women and girls were treated.
At least 262 victims of sexual assault were documented, ranging in age from nine to 60.
In several cases, emergency service volunteers were themselves raped by militants as they tried to help victims of sexual assault, the report found .
Taken together, the testimonies reveal a hellish existence for countless women and girls in Sudan’s capital. One 20-year-old woman told researchers: “For months I slept with a knife under my pillow in fear of raids that would lead to rape by militants.”
A midwife in Khartoum told researchers of the constant anxiety women face: “We are constantly afraid of militants raiding our homes. We can’t sleep because of this fear. Every day there is a raid on the house, they try to rape the women.”
At least four women and girls died from their injuries after being raped, and many others were hospitalized, the report said. One teenage girl was shot in the thigh after being gang-raped by a group of army soldiers and died in hospital “from severe bleeding caused by the bullets.”
The report also accused members of the Sudanese Armed Forces of sexual violence against residents of Khartoum. While the number of cases involving state forces has declined, researchers documented a “surge” in cases after soldiers took control of Omdurman in early 2024. Men and boys were also raped, including while in custody, the report said.
Neither side in the conflict, the report added, has taken “meaningful steps” to prevent their forces from committing rape or attacks on health workers, or even to independently and transparently investigate crimes committed by their forces.
However, a statement from Sudanese government Foreign Ministry spokesman Babikir Elamin disputed the report's findings, adding: «As for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), this report contains unsubstantiated allegations.»
Some survivors testified that they were raped by five members of the Rapid Intervention Forces. The RIF also “routinely abducted” women and girls and locked them in houses, according to the report. Some women were held for weeks. Many were beaten, tortured and denied access to food in conditions that researchers say amount to sexual slavery.
“Two girls, sisters we supported, told me that fighters raped them and other women in the house every day for the three days they were held,” the women’s rights activist said. She added that the sisters were held in a large house with many women and girls from South Sudan and Ethiopia. “They described being beaten, deprived of food and forced to wash the soldiers’ clothes every day,” the report said.
Health workers interviewed said they were “shocked” that young girls were targeted.
The report documented at least three cases of girls as young as 15 becoming pregnant as a result of rape by the Sudanese Armed Forces and one case in northern Khartoum by the Sudanese military.