Sexual Violence Rises In Sudan's Capital, Perpetrators Of RSF Military

Thanks UNICEF/Ahmed Elfatih Mohamdeen A girl sells ice cream in Kassala state in eastern Sudan.

JAKARTA - Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have reported widespread acts of sexual violence in the capital Khartoum, including group rape and forced marriage.

The Human Rights Watch report describes the RSF military holding women and girls in conditions that can be considered sexual slavery, and attacking them in front of their families.

Reuters has asked for comment from the RSF and the army. The two sides previously denied responsibility for violations during the war.

RSF said it would take precautions against human rights violations.

The HRW report quoted a woman living in an area controlled by the RSF as saying she had been sleeping with a knife for months under her pillow for self-defense.

Meanwhile, a midwife said he was constantly afraid of the RSF raid.

They did not carry out raids just to loot, they targeted certain houses because there were women there, they entered and asked about women and girls in the house, "the midwife was quoted as saying by Reuters from the HRW report, Monday, July 29.

Many survivors are trying to end their pregnancy due to rape face obstacles in doing so, the report said.

Boys and boys have also been sexually abused.

RSF has controlled most of Khartoum and its twin cities Bahri and Omdurman since the start of the war, which began when both sides were scrambling to protect their power under the planned political transition following the overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

The conflict has sparked ethnic-motive killings in the western region of Darfur, where RSF and its allied militias are accused of leading campaigns for attacks including sexual violence against ethnic Masalit groups.

Hala al-Karib, head of the Strategic Initiative for Women on the Horn of Africa (SIHA), said at a press conference launching the report, women Masalit and women from the mountains of Nuba were also targeted around Khartoum and Omdurman.

Every small movement carried out by a woman made it a direct target. Female volunteers in the emergency response room were detained, said Nidal Ahmed, an emergency response volunteer in Khartoum.

"They have been raped," he said.

Reports of cases of sexual violence increased after the army took control of Omdurman in early 2024, HRW said.