from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – A NEW report discloses how the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has inflicted widespread sexual violence on women and girls during Sudan’s two-year civil war.
The violations, according to the report by Amnesty International, are to humiliate, assert control and displace communities across the country.
The RSF’s alleged atrocities, including rape, gang-rape and sexual slavery, amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, according to the report.
The report, titled, “They raped all of us: Sexual violence against women and girls in Sudan,” documents RSF soldiers raping or gang-raping women and girls plus other forms of sexual violence, in four Sudanese states between April 2023 and October 2024.
Violations include raping a mother after tearing away her breastfeeding baby and the 30-day sexual enslavement of a woman in Khartoum, as well as severe beatings, torture with hot liquid or sharp blades and murder.
“The RSF’s assaults on Sudanese women and girls are sickening, depraved and aimed at inflicting maximum humiliation,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International Senior Director for Regional Human Rights Impact.
Muchena said the RSF had targeted civilians, particularly women and girls, with unimaginable cruelty during this war.
“The world must act to stop the RSF’s atrocities by stemming the flow of weapons into Sudan, pressuring the leadership to end sexual violence, and holding perpetrators including top commanders to account.”
Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), killing tens of thousands of people and displacing more than 11 million to date.
Both sides are accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law, some of which amount to war crimes, including sexual violence against women and girls.
– CAJ News