A Travesty of The War in Sudan: The Trafficking of Women

One of the tragic, dark elements of the Sudanese conflict is sexual violence and atrocities being committed against women. Over the months since this war began, we have seen several reports and testimonies of rape, sexual violence, the kidnapping of young girls, and enslavement. These gross human rights violations have been condemned across the globe, and they have shocked and outraged the Sudanese people. In recent days, the issue has resurfaced, with the emergence of new reports and testimonies documenting and condemning this dangerous and heinous phenomenon.
The stories of these women sound like nightmares. The heart-wrenching horrors they have undergone are hardly believable.
In one audio recording that has been circulating recently, a man recounts the story of a merchant who saw a market in which girls were being sold in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, after having been kidnapped from northern Sudan. Among them was an 11-year-old girl who cried as men, said to be from Niger and Chad, were haggling over her. The merchant took pity on her and decided to rescue her, paying the equivalent of about $4,900, and took her to his home and family. After taking her in, they learned that she had been taken from Khartoum Bahri (Khartoum North). Once they obtained her family's phone number, they contacted them to inform them of their daughter's rescue from an obscure, dark fate.
This market has also been mentioned in testimonies from residents and institutions of Darfur, as well as international human rights organizations. This week, the African Center for Peace and Justice Studies published an extensive report about sex-slavery markets in which women were being sold in "Hell Creek" in Darfur. The report contains horrifying testimonies of militants kidnapping women from war zones in northern Sudan, especially Khartoum and its suburbs, and taking them to Darfur, where they are forced into sex slavery. Some are sold for, and in some cases, their families are made to pay a ransom for their release.
Musaad Mohamed, the director of the center, has said that the report is supported by evidence, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with 45 victims, witnesses, and families of survivors, who were either freed by the Sudanese army or after a ransom was paid to the kidnappers.
As they prepared the report, which involved three months of field research, researchers from the center contacted citizens from several cities, towns, and villages in Darfur and documented their testimonies. The witnesses’ testimonies were made anonymously to ensure their safety.
According to the report, the researchers obtained testimonies from witnesses who saw women and girls being transported in cars, some of them chained, which suggests they had been kidnapped from the city of Khartoum. Four civilians residing in the Koweem, an area close to the western gate of El Fasher in North Darfur, reported seeing more than 70 Toyota pickup trucks loaded with boxes and other items, and over 10 vehicles carrying handcuffed girls. A local from the area says he saw the first instance of this in May 2023, a few weeks after the outbreak of war in Khartoum, and then this phenomenon became increasingly prevalent in June.
There can be doubt that this phenomenon continues as the war expands to new regions. Other reports document militants kidnapping women from the Gezira (Al Jazirah), whose capital, Madani, was invaded by the Rapid Support Forces last December. The International Planned Parenthood Federation, through Shafei Mohammed Ali, the Executive Director of the Sudan Family Planning Association, confirmed that 10 months into the war, "violence against women is increasing at a terrifying rate, especially sexual violence tied to the conflict, kidnapping, and forced disappearance.
Because every international and domestic report on the matter has pointed the finger at the Rapid Support Forces, the RSF denied a report issued by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, which documented 104 cases of women and young girls being kidnapped. The RSF claimed that it "is committed to upholding international and human rights law," and that they "oversee their militants and will not allow them to commit any transgressions." However, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the network's report is reinforced by the statement issued by 32 UN experts and special rapporteurs on issues of women and child protection and combating sexual violence.
It's clear that many of these things that happened during this war have shaken the Sudanese people, and its repercussions will continue to be felt long after it ends. Many families remain oblivious to the fate of their missing daughters to this day. Many others are trying to bury their grief and keep quiet about the assaults their women have suffered, because of the stigma that comes with being a victim of such crimes in Sudanese society, which is extremely sensitive to questions of honor and considers such violations to be alien to its culture and antithetical with its values. Thus, this is among the issues that the relevant authorities must pay particular attention to. They must provide psychological and medical support for the victims and their families, and raise awareness in order to confront these phenomena. Indeed, one cannot speak of eradicating this scourge so long as we have wars that bring out the worst in the human psyche.
Sudan is not alone in this regard. Other societies and countries have suffered this horror. In fact, Sudan has suffered from these practices in the areas where previous conflicts had been fought, especially in Darfur. However, it is also true that Sudanese society was more shocked this time because it has reached broader areas and places that had not witnessed these crimes before, which demands immense efforts and resources to support organizations and bodies working to fight these crimes and support their victims.
It is unacceptable for any party to claim that these violations are the result of “individual transgressions,” especially when they are perpetrated on such a broad scale and in a seemingly systematic manner that sometimes appears vindictive. Those who believe that the deep wounds left by this war will heal quickly, or that the Sudanese will forget easily, are delusional. The road to recovery will be difficult, and legal accountability is a necessary stop on this road.