(Port Sudan) Paramilitaries and the army have engaged in widespread sexual violence in Khartoum and its suburbs as part of their power struggle in Sudan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Monday.
The New York-based NGO says it has collected testimonies from 42 caregivers and field workers reporting 262 cases of sexual violence in the Sudanese capital between the start of the war in April 2023 and February 2024.
These acts of violence mainly affect “women and girls aged nine to 60” and include “rapes and gang rapes”, the organisation described in a report published on Monday.
Among those treated by health professionals interviewed by HRW, “at least four women died as a result” of the injuries inflicted on them.
The war that has pitted the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, for more than fifteen months, has left tens of thousands dead and ravaged the country’s infrastructure, including hospitals and health centers.
The FSR are specifically accused of having “individually and gang-raped and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas of the Sudanese capital,” says Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at HRW.
The 88-page report also describes “conditions that could amount to sexual slavery.”
While most of the testimonies point to the FSR, the army is also implicated.
Although “fewer in number”, the cases attributed to the army reported to the NGO have “increased” since its “takeover of Omdurman”, the north-eastern suburb of Khartoum, in early 2024.
HRW specifically accuses the FSR of “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” and both sides of “war crimes” for their attacks on the health system.
“Attacks by belligerents on the health system and medical personnel,” coupled with “restrictions on the movement of civilians, ongoing fighting in populated areas and the deliberate obstruction of aid” have notably made “emergency health care after rape” unavailable, the report denounces.
Women have tried in vain to terminate their pregnancies when they became pregnant following rape.
According to HRW, it is difficult to assess the extent of sexual violence because of the reluctance of victims to testify, for fear of being stigmatized.
The NGO called on the UN and the African Union to “urgently deploy a force to protect civilians” in Sudan.