In a report published this Monday, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch claims to have documented dozens of cases involving women and girls, aged 7 to 50, victims of sexual violence, including gang rape and sexual slavery in conflict-torn South Kordofan. Sudan is ravaged by more than a year and a half of war between two rival generals.
South Kordofan is largely controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), an armed rebel group that controls Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and parts of Blue Nile State.
The RSF, which has been fighting the regular army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane since April 2023, is also facing the SPLM-N for control of the region.
“Serious violation of humanitarian law”
According to HRW, many victims were gang raped in their homes or neighbors’ homes, often in front of their families, while some were kidnapped and held as slaves.
A 35-year-old survivor from the Nouba tribe described being raped by six RSF fighters, who stormed her family property and killed her husband and son when they tried to intervene. “They kept raping me, all six of them,” she said.
Another survivor, aged 18, described being taken in February with 17 others to a military base, where they joined 33 other detained women and girls. The group of prisoners were allegedly chained and raped daily for three months.
HRW called the violence “a serious violation of humanitarian law,” urging the United Nations and the African Union to “act urgently to help survivors, protect other women and girls, and ensure justice for these heinous crimes.”
“This sexual violence, which constitutes war crimes, highlights the urgent need for significant international action to protect civilians and deliver justice,” the NGO said in its report.
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