Sudan: Report monitoring the growing abduction and sexual exploitation of women into Darfur

Moatinoon
An investigative report revealed that women and girls had been abducted, forcibly transferred to other states and subjected to torture, enslavement and trafficking, as a new phenomenon during the war sparked in mid-April. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, the issuer of the report, noted that groups dressed as RSF were behind the phenomenon according to eyewitnesses and testimonies from survivors.

The report, which took three months to prepare, May-June and July 2023, linked kidnapping activities using potentially stolen vehicles. According to eyewitness statements, some women and girls appeared on board these cars and some were chained to the chains likely to be abducted from Khartoum city. According to the report, four civilians residing in the Quim area adjacent to the western gate of El Fasher, Northern Darfur, reported seeing more than 70 Toyota marks half-loaded with boxes and other items and more than 10 cars with girls in the hands of chains.

One witness said the phenomenon was growing, with an estimated 20 girls on a rapid support uniform on the road leading to Kabkabiya.

A military source, quoted in the report, reported that a number of cases had been liberated following the seizure of armed men in El Fasher by the Armed Struggle Forces Protection of Civilians Force. The source added that the victims reported having undergone sexual violence and starvation before arriving in El Fasher. In the city of Kutum, local residents, including kidnappers, confirmed that the city had witnessed early last June, coinciding with the end of battles between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and after being controlled by the latter, the arrival of more than 20 vehicles with boxes, some of them girls, who were chained.
On the other hand, according to the report, a number of eyewitnesses from the city of Kabkabiya, Northern Darfur, revealed the emergence of more than 20 kidnappers, some of whom were deported to the Ghorat al-Zawiya area between Kabkabiya and Saraf Umra.

Source:
African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies website