What's Happening to Women in Sudan?
Human rights groups and activists have stated that multiple Sudanese women have taken their own lives in central Gezira state after being brutally raped by the paramilitary soldiers in the ongoing civil war raging in the country. The accounts started dispersing after the UN accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of "atrocious crimes" a week before, counting mass killings in the state.
As the RSF continues to gain territorial control over more areas, a human rights group based in Sudan has reported that they were in contact with six women who were currently contemplating suicide as they feared sharing the same cruel fate as the other women in the country and getting sexually assaulted.
However, the RSF has refuted a recent report by the UN documenting a rise in sexual violence among the combatants, stating that the accusations "were not based on violence".
Background Information
Last year in April, Sudan was thrown into chaos when the state's army and a paramilitary body began an armed struggle for authority. After the coup in 2021, a council of generals was in charge of the nation, which was led by two generals at the center of the dispute: Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the armed forces and therefore the country's president, and his deputy and leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as "Hemedti."
The Rapid Support Force, or the RSF, is a paramilitary group that has its origins in the infamous Janjaweed militia that viciously battled rebels in Darfur, where they were accused of ethnic cleansing against the region's non-Arabic population. Ever since, Gen Dagalo has assembled a strong military force that has interfered in disputes in Yemen and Libya. He has also been involved in the nation's economy, most notably establishing control over some of Sudan's gold mines.
Before the civil war erupted, the group had already been accused of violating human rights many times, including the massacre of 120 civil protesters in June 2019. The existence of such a substantial military power outside the official army has been the root of instability in the country for many years.
While running the council, the two generals disagreed on the country's path and stance on the proposed transition toward civilian rule. Another set of issues within the negotiation was the plan to add the 100,000 RSF soldiers to the army and determine who would lead the newly formed force from then on. The widely held assumptions indicated that the two generals wanted to maintain their authority and power, not wanting to risk losing their positions and wealth.
The shooting began on 15 April 2023 following days of tension in the nation after the redeployment of the RSF soldiers around the country, which the army saw as a threat. It's unclear which side fired the first shot, but the vicious power struggle has led to an ongoing civil war that has claimed more than 15,000 lives. About nine million people were forced out of their homes in what the UN has named one of human history's "largest displacement crises."
Last week, the head of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, visited the aid hub of Port Sudan and stated that the country could witness the world's largest humanitarian crisis if a ceasefire was not reached any time soon. She forewarned that millions could die from starvation. There have also been warnings of genocide in the western region of Darfur, where residents have claimed the soldiers are targeting them due to their ethnicity.
Hearing Sudanese Women's Voices
The Head of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (Siha), Hala al-Karib, has said: "The RSF started a revenge campaign in areas under the control of Abu Kayka. They looted, killed civilians who were resisting and raped women and little girls.". The initiation has been reporting gender-based violence in Sudan during the war, and confirmed that there have been three cases of women committing suicide over the last week in Gezira state, Karib stated.
The sister of a woman who took her own life in the village of Al Seriha recounted to Siha that her death happened after she was raped by RSF fighters in front of her father and brother, who were later murdered.
A string of videos has spread online over the last week that seem to display dozens of deceased bodies wrapped in blankets after an alleged RSF slaughter in Al Seriha. The location of the said massacre has been matched to the courtyard of a mosque in Al Seriha. Karib added that the number of suicides in the village could be higher as mobile connection was unreliable in the area.
Karib also revealed that Siha was currently trying to maintain contact with the six women who were fearful of the RSF and contemplating taking their own lives. She said Siha was trying to provide them psychological support during their despair as activists tried to work out a way they could move the women to safer locations. She also stated that they were trying to help a 13-year-old girl who had been gang-raped by RSF combatants in Gezira and was in urgent need of medical care. The girl was currently on the way from her home village to the town of New Halfa, and had been bleeding profusely, she claimed.
An activist from Gezira, who requested to remain anonymous as she feared for her life, has told news networks that she had confirmed reports of women taking their own lives after their husbands had been murdered by the RSF. She informs that she has also seen WhatsApp messages from a woman who explained how her sister had taken her own life after being raped by RSF soldiers, having killed five of her brothers and some of her uncles again in Al Seriha. But once again, like Siha, she has communicated that it was unfortunately impossible to verify messages on social media of reported mass suicides of women fearing rape given the communication issues in the region.
An 80-page UN report that was released on Tuesday declared that ever since the civil war began, at least 400 survivors of military-related sexual violence have been recorded up to July 2024, with the actual number presumed to be much higher. The UN chair of the panel that compiled the report, Mohamed Chande Othman, voiced: "The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering." The document revealed that victims’ ages have ranged from between eight and 75 years - with many of them needing urgent medical treatment, though most hospitals and clinics have been ruined in the war, the UN articulated.
On the other hand, RSF spokesperson Nizar Sayed Ahmed expressed to global news networks: “These accusations are false and not based on any evidence (...) To find out the facts on the ground, the UN must send a fact-finding team to Sudan,” he said.
How to Help The Women in Sudan?
Displaced from their homes and facing the constant threat of sexual violence, women and children in Sudan are currently in desperate need of medical help, shelter, and food. There are many relief and conflict response funds, including Women for Women International (womenforwomen.org) which provides direct medical support for the victimized women and girls that have been raped, as well as food and shelter.
They include words from a woman based in Khartoum on their site, which describes the current devastation wrecking the nation: "The biggest worry right now in the light of the ongoing conflict is still [that] there is abuse, especially in Khartoum [by] the militia, who are now in the homes of the people. There are many, many cases of rape [of] women and girls."
Gathering media attention is also equally as important as gathering funds to support the civilians. Share, repost, and keep all eyes on Sudan and Sudanese women.
Edited By: Ömer Gökce, Oya Yamaç