While all eyes of the world are on the conflict in the Middle East, Sudan has been ravaged for 17 months by a brutal civil war, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and gruesome crimes against women. A woman, whose identity has been changed, gave a heartbreaking interview to the BBC, where she revealed, among other things, what is happening in the territory of Dar es Salaam, which is run by the army's Rapid Forces (RSF).
Residents said that the men are no longer trying to leave the country, or even leave the house, as they are brutally beaten by members of the RSF. They take the little money they earn in hard labor and leave the families in extreme poverty and hunger.
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One of the women, who spoke to the BBC, expressed pain and tears in her eyes:
"Where is the rest of the world? Why are you not helping us? There are so many women who have been violated and are being violated, but we don't talk about it! And if we talk, what difference will it make?".
She continued:
"Some girls are forced by RSF soldiers to sleep outside. If they return late from the market, they are kidnapped for 5-6 days", while she wept along with the women accompanying her.
The anonymous woman said: "In your world, if your child sleeps outside, would you leave it there? Won't you ask for it? Tell us, what do we do? We have nothing in hand. Nobody cares about us! Why doesn't anyone help us?".
The border that separates the two gangs of the civil war is very narrow and barbaric acts of violence, theft, etc. are always recorded in it. The United Nations has stated that over 10.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes, but sexual violence is more present than ever. Armed men rape women, little girls, and in some cases, even men, while the conflict continues to be hot and barbaric.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights in the United Nations, Volker Turk, said that rape is being used as a weapon of war. In the last mission, the United Nations documented numerous cases of rape and constant threats by members of the army, as well as extreme cases of violence by the Rapid Forces, which have thus also committed war crimes.
A woman, who met a BBC journalist in the market, said that RSF forces had raped her. She will, in this article, be identified as Miriam, to preserve privacy. Miriam left her home in Dar es Salaam with her brother, but again, the inhumane acts of violence are very fresh.
At the beginning of the war, 2 armed men entered her house and tried to rape her daughters, one 17 years old and the other 10 years old. "I told the girls to stand behind me and turned to the armed men:
"If you want to rape someone, rape me, not my daughters."
She continued to confess:
"They shot me and ordered me to take off my clothes. Before I took them off, I told the girls to leave. They took my children and drove them away. Then, one of the men raped me."
RSF officials have told international investigators that they have taken all the necessary measures to prevent sexual violence and any other form of violence that goes against human rights, for the many testimonies of girls and women show a completely different thing.
A neighbor of Miriam's said that her 15-year-old daughter had become pregnant as a result of being raped by RSF forces. People were awakened by her screams and went to see what was happening, but the gunman had said he would shoot people if they did not return to their homes.
The next morning, they found the 15-year-old girl and her sister with signs of abuse on their bodies, while the older brother, locked in another room.
Cases of violence against women are horrific and most likely, without an intervention, will continue and they will experience the same unimaginable nightmares.
