In Omdurman, Soldiers Exploit Wars Aftermath: Food and Looting in Exchange for Sex

Moatinoon
Sudanese army soldiers confirmed reports of forcing women to have sex. In a report by the British newspaper "The Guardian," a soldier stated that although he did not personally exploit women, he witnessed his colleagues doing so. He described an incident where a woman had sex with soldiers, who in turn allowed her sisters to loot houses. "Its awful," the soldier said. "The amount of sins in this city can never be forgiven."

More than twenty women, who were unable to flee the fighting in Omdurman, said that having sex with Sudanese army men was the only way to access food or goods they could sell to raise money to feed their families.

According to "The Guardian" report, most sexual assaults occurred in the industrial area of Omdurman. Women struggling to survive said they were forced to have sex with soldiers in exchange for food.

One victim said she had no choice but to have sex with soldiers to get food for her elderly parents and 18-year-old daughter. "Both of my parents are very old and sick, and I didnt allow my daughter to go out looking for food," she said. "I went to the soldiers, and that was the only way to get food - they were everywhere in the industrial area." She said she was forced to have sex with soldiers at a meat processing plant last May and again at a fava bean warehouse this January. The 37-year-old woman said she was too poor to flee the city and take her family to a safer part of the country when the conflict began.

Reports of rape by armed men emerged days after the war broke out on April 15, 2023. Numerous accounts of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters perpetrating systematic sexual violence in the Khartoum area and in Darfur have been documented.

Some women who spoke to The Guardian said that soldiers are also demanding sex in exchange for access to abandoned houses where they can still loot items to sell in local markets.

One woman said that after having sex with soldiers, she was allowed to take food, kitchen equipment, and perfumes from empty houses. She spoke of her shame at the sexual assault she was forced to endure and resorting to stealing property to survive. "I am not a thief," she said. "What I went through is indescribable; I wouldnt wish it on an enemy... I only did it because I wanted to feed my children."

A third woman who spoke to The Guardian said she was tortured by soldiers because she stopped having sex with them. The 21-year-old said she had sex with soldiers in return for being allowed to loot houses in west Omdurman but stopped after her brothers told her they opposed looting. She explained that when she told the soldiers she would no longer come to see them, two of them held her down and burned her legs.

The conflict in Sudan has left tens of thousands dead and displaced over 10 million people, according to the United Nations. A recent UN-backed report stated that nearly 26 million people, or slightly more than half of the population, were facing high levels of "acute food insecurity."

Aid organizations have struggled to supply food to people in desperate need around the country. Although the UNs World Food Programme recently said it had delivered aid to the Khartoum area, the women who spoke to The Guardian said they had not seen any international aid reaching their neighborhoods