Warning: This story incorporates particulars that some might discover distressing.
Several girls have taken their very own lives in Sudan’s central Gezira state after being raped by paramilitary fighters throughout the brutal civil struggle raging within the nation, rights teams and activists stated.
The information comes after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had been accused by the United Nations of “heinous crimes”, together with mass killings, which occurred within the state final week.
As RSF fighters proceed to advance, a human rights group instructed the BBC it’s involved with six girls who’re contemplating taking their very own lives as a result of they worry being sexually assaulted.
But RSF rejected a latest UN report accusing its fighters of a rise in sexual violence, telling the BBC that the allegations had been “not based mostly on proof”.
The fierce energy wrestle between the military and RSF has killed tens of hundreds of individuals and compelled greater than 11 million folks to flee their houses for the reason that battle started in April 2023.
The head of the United Nations World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, visited the Port Sudan humanitarian middle this week and instructed the BBC that the nation might expertise the world’s largest-ever humanitarian disaster if a ceasefire is just not reached .
He warned that tens of millions of individuals might starve.
Reports of paramilitary fighters rampaging in Gezira observe the latest defection to the military of Abu Aqla Kayka, the RSF’s prime commander within the state.
“The RSF launched a marketing campaign of revenge within the areas below Abu Kayka’s management. They looted, killed resisting civilians and raped girls and ladies,” stated Hala al-Karib, head of the Strategic Initiative for Women within the Horn ‘Africa (Siha), he instructed the BBC.
Siha, which paperwork gender violence in Sudan throughout the struggle, confirmed three instances of feminine suicide previously week in Gezira state, she stated.
Ms Karib stated two had been in Al Seriha village and a 3rd in Ruffa city.
The sister of a lady who took her personal life within the village instructed Siha that this occurred after she was raped by RSF troopers in entrance of her father and brother. The two males had been later killed.
Over the previous week, a collection of movies have been shared on-line that seem to indicate dozens of our bodies wrapped in blankets from an alleged RSF bloodbath in Al Seriha.
BBC Verify was in a position to match the situation of this footage to the courtyard of a mosque in Al Seriha.
Evidence of suicides got here from solely two areas of about 50 villages that had been just lately attacked, Karib stated, including that the determine might be larger as a result of cellular communications had been patchy.
An activist from Gezira, who requested to stay nameless as a result of she feared for her life, instructed the BBC she had confirmed studies of ladies taking their very own lives after their husbands had been killed by the RSF.
He had seen WhatsApp messages from a lady describing how her sister had taken her personal life after being raped by RSF militiamen, who had additionally killed 5 of her brothers and a few of her uncles additionally in Al Seriha.
But like Siha, she stated it’s unattainable to confirm social media studies of mass suicides by girls who worry rape, given communication issues.
On Tuesday, an 80-page United Nations report stated that at the very least 400 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence had been documented for the reason that begin of the battle by way of July 2024, and the true determine is suspected to be a lot larger.
“The scale of sexual violence we now have documented in Sudan is staggering,” stated Mohamed Chande Othman, president of the UN panel that compiled the report.
The documented victims ranged in age from eight to 75 and lots of of them required medical care, however most hospitals and clinics had been destroyed within the combating, the UN stated.
RSF spokesperson Nizar Sayed Ahmed instructed the BBC: “These allegations are false and never based mostly on proof.
“To discover out the details on the bottom, the United Nations should ship a fact-finding crew to Sudan,” he stated.
Ms Karib instructed the BBC that Siha was making an attempt to be in contact with the six girls who had been afraid of the RSF advance and had been pondering of taking their very own lives.
He stated Siha was giving them psychological help whereas activists tried to determine how one can transfer them to safer locations.
He additionally stated they had been making an attempt to assist a 13-year-old lady who had been gang-raped by RSF fighters in Gezira and urgently wanted medical consideration.
The lady was at present touring from her house village, north of Ruffa, to the city of New Halfa, and was bleeding profusely, he stated.
Additional reporting by the BBC’s Anne Soy and BBC Verify’s Peter Mwai.
