Living Through Hell: Sudanese Women Pay the Highest Price of War
Samar Suleiman
The United Nations and international organizations report that approximately 6 million individuals, mostly women and children, have been internally displaced due to the conflict in Sudan. Women have been robbed of their safety and subjected to various forms of gender-based violence, including nearly 370 recorded instances of rape— 56 of which occurred in the Darfur region following the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) invasion last July.
For Fatima Ahmed, a woman in her fifties who earns a living by selling prepared meals, the war has turned her and her family’s life upside down, forcing them to flee from Khartoum to Kassala in eastern Sudan. Once the owner of a modest restaurant selling traditional meals, she now grapples with the loss of her primary source of income while striving to rebuild her business. She is also trying to recover from the harrowing experience of war Khartoum, where she and her family were subjected to the terrifying echoes of gunfire and shelling and the grim sight of scattered body parts in the streets.
Awadia Marjan, who was displaced south of the capital in Jabal Awliya, was forced to flee a second time to the city of Wad Madani as the war spread outside Khartoum. “During that arduous journey I lost my sister, who was battling a chronic illness, due to the lack of the accessible hospitals or health centers," she noted in an interview for Sada.
Since the outbreak of war in mid-April, there has been an escalation in sexual violence against women in Sudan, raising widespread concern and condemnation from international and local organizations. Amnesty International reported that dozens of women and girls—some as young as 12—have endured sexual violence by the warring factions, and some have even been held for prolonged captivity in conditions of sexual slavery.
Sudanese psychiatrist Ahmed Ibrahim has treated approximately 1,000 women who suffered war-related sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, seeking to restore their psychological stability and alleviate their trauma. In an interview for Sada, he also noted the alarming escalation of sexual assault in recent months. Similarly, legal activist Doaa Mamoun, who has been documenting all violations against women in Sudan since the beginning of the war, has noticed a disturbing pattern of physical abuse against Sudanese women coupled with the systemic denial of their rights to education and healthcare.
Among those internally displaced, thousands of Sudanese women are confined in a refugee camp along the border of South Sudan and Uganda, where the deteriorating security, living conditions, and environmental standards have rendered them vulnerable to further violence.
The Sudanese Group of Victims of Enforced Disappearances has recorded 96 cases involving women who are likely to have experienced rape, sexual enslavement, or exploitation for domestic labor. What exacerbates the situation for these women is that even if they return, they are often forced to bear a social stigma and various kinds of verbal abuse. When male family members disappear, on the other hand, women carry the economic, legal, and social burdens. In fact, under Sudanese law, a woman is prohibited from accessing her husbands savings until at least two years have passed since his disappearance.
In this way, the war has exacted a heavy financial price on Sudanese women, who have lost their jobs, property, housing, and sources of income and are forced to seek aid. According to economic affairs expert Al-Hadi Mohamed Ibrahim, this has had a severe economic impact on the entire country— particularly in rural areas, where women work in agriculture, herding, and craft work.
As the war in Sudan continues, in the absence of adequate protection measures, so too will attacks against women. UN experts have urged the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF to end the ongoing violations of humanitarian and human rights law. Yet conflict is unlikely to cease without rapid international intervention—necessitating the efforts of humanitarian organizations to rescue and protect women.
Samar Suleiman is a Sudanese journalist.
Source:
Carnegie Foundation website
carnegieendowment.org
The report was published on March 26, 2024
