Activists say women raped by RSF fighters in Gezira state died by suicide
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Several women have committed suicide in Sudan’s central Gezira state after being raped by paramilitary fighters during the brutal civil war raging in the country, human rights groups and activists said.
The reports come after the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) was accused by the United Nations of “atrocity crimes”, including mass killings, in the state last week.
As RSF fighters continue to advance, a human rights group has told the BBC that they are in contact with six women who are considering taking their own lives because they fear being sexually assaulted.
But the RSF rejected a recent UN report blaming the rise in sexual violence on its fighters, telling the BBC the accusations were “not based on evidence”.
The brutal power struggle between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 11 million to flee their homes since the conflict began in April 2023.
The head of the United Nations World Food Program, Cindy McCain, visited the Port Sudan aid center this week and told the BBC that the country could see its biggest humanitarian crisis since ever in the world if a ceasefire is not reached.
She warned that millions could die of starvation.
Reports of paramilitary fighters on the rampage in Gezira follow the recent defection to the army of Abu Aqla Kayka, the top RSF commander in the state.
“RSF started a revenge campaign in areas controlled by Abu Kayka. They looted, killed resisting civilians and raped women and girls,” said Hala al-Karib, head of the Initiative Strategy for Women in the Horn of Africa (Siha), told the BBC.
Siha, which has documented gender-based violence in Sudan during the war, has confirmed three cases of women committing suicide in the past week in Gezira state, she said.
Ms Karib said two were from Al Seriha village and the third was from Ruffa town.
The sister of a woman who committed suicide in the village told Siha that it happened after she was raped by RSF soldiers in front of her father and brother. The two men were later killed.
A series of videos have been shared online over the past week showing dozens of bodies wrapped in blankets after an alleged massacre by the RSF in Al Seriha.
BBC Verify was able to match the location of this footage to the courtyard of a mosque in Al Seriha.
Evidence of suicides came from only two areas out of about 50 villages recently attacked, Ms. Karib said, adding that the number could be higher due to patchy mobile communication. patch.
A female activist in Gezira, who asked to remain anonymous because she feared for her life, told the BBC that she had confirmed reports of women committing suicide after their husbands were killed by the RSF.
She had seen WhatsApp messages from a woman describing how her sister had taken her own life after being raped by RSF militiamen, who also killed five of her brothers and several of her uncles. she was also in Al Seriha.
But like Siha, she said it was impossible to verify social media accounts of reported mass suicides among women for fear of rape due to communication problems.
On Tuesday, an 80-page United Nations report said that since the conflict began, at least 400 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence had been recorded as of July 2024. , with the actual number suspected to be much higher.
“The scale of sexual violence we documented in Sudan is staggering,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, UN chair of the panel that compiled the report.
The United Nations said the recorded victims ranged in age from 8 to 75 – many of them needed medical treatment, but most hospitals and clinics were destroyed in the fighting.
RSF spokesman Nizar Sayed Ahmed told the BBC: “These allegations are false and not based on evidence.
“To find out the truth on the ground, the United Nations must send a fact-finding team to Sudan,” he said.
Ms Karib told the BBC that Siha was trying to keep in touch with six women who were frightened by RSF’s advances and were planning to take their own lives.
She said Siha is providing them with psychological support as activists try to find ways to move them to safer locations.
She also said they were trying to help a 13-year-old girl who was gang-raped by RSF fighters in Gezira and was in need of urgent medical attention.
The girl was currently on her way from the village north of Ruffa to the town of New Halfa and was bleeding profusely.
Additional reporting from BBC’s Anne Soy and BBC Verify’s Peter Mwai.