Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April, hundreds of rapes have been reported by civilians and NGOs, with women from ethnic minorities being particularly targeted. In mid-June, two extremely shocking videos emerged of rapes being carried out in North Khartoum. Our Observers condemn the systemic use of sexual violence in Darfur, where ethnic tensions are rife.
WARNING: This article contains accounts of sexual violence that readers may find disturbing.
On June 21, the Observers team was sent two shocking videos that had been circulating on WhatsApp and TikTok since June 15. Both were filmed in Khartoum North, a town outside the capital. They are the first visual evidence of the use of rape during the conflict raging in Sudan since April 15 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
One of the videos was filmed by an attacker
The first video lasts 1 minute 12 seconds and is filmed by a group of men in a room. It shows two half-naked men staring down at a naked young woman. They take turns raping her as a third films the scene while holding down the victim's head with his foot. The young woman can be heard crying and screaming. She repeats: "It's OK, I promise not to struggle, please don't hurt me!" The three young men, including the man filming the video, are not wearing uniforms or any signs of belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) or the Sudanese army, the two parties to the conflict.
The video was posted on TikTok from June 15 until it was removed on June 23.
Sudanese people expressed their outrage on Facebook and TikTok. They shared a screenshot of one of the attackers in the video and identified him by first and last name as well as home town. They also said that he was part of the Rapid Support Forces. We have not been able to independently verify this information.
The other video was filmed by a witness
The second video was filmed by a witness in Khartoum North, also known as Khartoum Bahri, at some point before June 16, when CNN published an investigation that included the video.
Opposite the building where the video was filmed, we can identify a fighter in uniform and wearing the "kamdul" – headgear typical of Sudanese Arab tribes and adopted by FSR fighters – moving back and forth over a second person in the courtyard of a house.
The author of the video commented: "They say there are no rapes (...) This is a rape in broad daylight, we are in the Kafouri neighbourhood, in block 4, near another block. There are two other men standing guard outside." The camera then shows a man in light beige camouflage – the characteristic colour of the FSR uniform – with a kamdul on his head standing at the gate outside the house.
"One of the victims was taken to hospital by a member of the RSF while she was suffering from vaginal bleeding"
Sulaima Ishaq Khalifa is a trauma psychologist and the director of the Unit for Ending Violence against Women, a public body attached to the Ministry of Social Affairs in Sudan.
The unit examined the two videos and was able to identify the victims thanks to witnesses and neighbours who recognised the young girls. The two victims work as domestic servants in Khartoum Bahri. The victim in the second video was 15 years old. The age of the victim in the first video is not yet known.
Although they’re painful to watch, both videos contain tangible evidence of sexual violence perpetrated in Khartoum Bahri. The young girls are from shanty towns and they were employed as domestic help in private homes. When the RSF took control of certain districts in Khartoum, the girls shopped and cleaned for them.
In one case, the victim was dropped off at hospital by a member of the RSF while suffering from vaginal bleeding, which confirms that the rape was committed by these forces.
In addition to the victims' testimonies, we rely on eyewitness accounts – in particular from families and neighbours – to document these crimes: where it happened, when and who is responsible. Rape is used as a weapon of war; it is a war crime.
Sulaima Ishaq told us that she was unable to determine the two victim’s current health condition, as those areas of North Khartoum are under the control of the RSF, making it more difficult for social services to gain access to them.
She highlights a nuance concerning rapes in war zones which may otherwise seem less easy to prove:
Although some victims have sex with RSF fighters in exchange for money or food, one can never speak of consent in a context of war, especially as most rape victims are minors, aged between 12 and 17, and therefore cannot give consent de facto.
According to the UN, at least 53 women and girls were subjected to sexual violence between April 15 and 19, when the conflict in Sudan began. However, according to several of our Sudanese Observers in the capital Khartoum and in Darfur, this figure is much lower than the reality on the ground.
As of June 29, the Unit for Ending Violence against Women and Children recorded 88 cases of rape since the start of the conflict: 42 in the capital Khartoum, 21 in El Geneina, in the state of West Darfur, and 25 in Nyala, in the state of South Darfur. However, according to the unit, these recorded cases only represent 2% of rapes that take place across the country because of the taboo on speaking of the subject within the victims’ communities.
"In one district of Nyala alone, I recorded 12 cases of rape"
Nahla Khazraji is an activist with Mostaqbal, a feminist organisation based in Nyala that documents cases of sexual violence against women and girls in West and South Darfur. She says that she has documented more than one hundred rapes since the start of the conflict, but that rape survivors have difficulty speaking out.
I have personally spoken to about a hundred victims on the phone, but officially, only 24 women have agreed to report the rapes to the Women and Children Protection Unit. In one district of Nyala alone, I recorded 12 cases of rape.
Most of them contact us anonymously just to get emergency treatment or screening, but they don't want to make it public. So we collect testimonies and obtain treatment from the Protection Unit, then deliver it to the victims.
As well as being raped, they suffer from social pressure and the shame of being raped. It's very difficult to get survivors to confide in us, so we prefer to talk to them privately so that we can provide them with a minimum of medical care.
"RSF break into their homes and rape them in front of their families"
Only a third of the hospitals in Sudan are still operational, with fighting in urban areas limiting the movement of civilians. The Mostaqbal association told us that unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases have gone untreated because the rapes were not reported in time. For emergency contraception to be effective, it must be administered no more than 3 to 5 days after sexual intercourse:
We believe that around 90% of rape victims in Darfur are internally displaced persons. Many of them are daily workers, either in private homes or in cafés and restaurants. They are in extremely precarious living situations, which automatically makes them more exposed to sexual exploitation, forced prostitution and rape. In many cases, for example, women are forced to have sex with FSR fighters in exchange for money or food.
Other victims have been raped in their homes. RSF soldiers have burst into their homes and raped them in front of their families. Imagine a woman's psychological state after that!
The reports we have received in Darfur indicate that most of the rapists are Janjaweed who are not in uniform. Sudanese army soldiers are also responsible for some of the sexual violence committed, but to a much lesser degree, according to the testimonies we have collected.
Rape in times of conflict constitutes a war crime
Our two Observers and several other Sudanese women are doing their utmost to record and document sexual violence during the ongoing conflict. A 2008 UN resolution defined several important measures to protect women, noting that rape and other forms of sexual violence could constitute a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.
Rape is a war tactic that has historically been used in times of conflict. During the Rwandan genocide, up to 500,000 cases of rape were recorded, whole more than 60,000 cases were reported during the civil war in Sierra Leone.
In Sudan, the use of rape as a weapon of war dates back to at least the 2003 conflict in Darfur, during which at least 250 non-Arab women were raped, according to Amnesty International.
"The victim is raped in an effort to dehumanise and defeat the enemy"
Gwenaëlle Lenoir, a freelance journalist who specialises in East Africa, covered the pro-democracy social movements in Sudan between 2019 and 2021 in Khartoum. At the time, she witnessed sexual violence perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces, but also by the Sudanese police against female demonstrators.
Members of the RSF have a history of perpetuating sexual violence. They often target Eritrean or Ethiopian refugee women because they don't have a strong community behind them that will support or defend them. The RSF ranks are mainly made up of ethnic Arabs, so in their eyes, victims from ethnic groups other than their own can be dehumanised. This is the why rape is used as a weapon of war: the victim is raped in an effort to dehumanise and defeat the enemy.
Rape is identified as a weapon of war because it is also systemic: although it is not an order validated by the hierarchy, soldiers or combatants have a "carte blanche" to commit acts of violence. In situations of war and chaos, women are more vulnerable, and if they happen to also be refugees, they are very vulnerable.
What happens after the war?
Rape used as a weapon of war is a matter treated by the International Criminal Court. Sudanese NGOs say that it is therefore necessary to be able to present all evidence possible in addition to testimonies.
Feminist organisations including Sudanese Women Rights Action (SUWRA) have drawn up a list of elements that can support their cases: medical reports, police reports, bloody clothing and semen samples. At the same time, this organisation has called out the near-total lack of hospital and security services able to help and protect victims of rape.
