The findings supports rights groups’ studies of the conflict’s pervasive sexual assault.
A United Nations mission said Tuesday that during the more than 18-month conflict, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allies had perpetrated “staggering” levels of sexual assault, raping people as forces approach and kidnapping some women as sex slaves.
According to the UN fact-finding mission’s assessment, the majority of sexual abuse has been perpetrated by the RSF and affiliated militia in an effort to terrorize and punish individuals for alleged ties to adversaries, and victims have ranged in age from eight to seventy-five.
In a statement released alongside an 80-page report based on interviews with victims, families, and witnesses, mission chair Mohamed Chande Othman said, “The sheer scale of sexual violence we have documented in Sudan is staggering.”
Rights groups’ studies of the pervasive sexual abuse during the conflict were mirrored in the study.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the RSF, which is engaged in combat with the army of Sudan. In the past, it has pledged to look into claims and prosecute those responsible.
The so-called Janjaweed militias, which assisted the military in quelling an uprising in Sudan’s western Darfur area twenty years ago, are the ancestors of the paramilitary RSF.
Ethnic murders
The RSF has taken over a significant portion of Sudan in the ongoing conflict, notably West Darfur, where it is alleged to have deployed militias to commit ethnic massacres against the Masalit people.
According to the UN mission, sexual assaults in some areas of West Darfur state frequently used racist epithets, suggesting ethnic targeting.
It also mentioned a case in which a West Darfur woman was raped repeatedly while being held captive by RSF guards for more than eight months.
Four further cases involved removing women from the street, beating and raping them, and then either releasing them or leaving them unconscious on the street. According to victims, the majority of perpetrators donned scarves to hide their faces or RSF uniforms.
The Sudanese army has been implicated in fewer incidences of sexual violence, according to the report, and further research is required. Additionally, it claimed to have reliable information that child soldiers had been enlisted by both sides of the conflict.
Major violations, including arbitrary arrests and torture, were discovered by the mission last month in both the army and RSF.
With thousands of people slain, over 11 million displaced, widespread famine, and international powers involved, Sudan’s war has produced one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in history, while being sidelined by the crises in Gaza and Ukraine.
