'Alarming' rise in rape and abduction in Sudan war: aid agencies

08 July 2023 - 14:32 By Reuters
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A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, where clashes between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue.
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, where clashes between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue.
Image: Mostafa Saied/Reuters

The conflict between military factions in Sudan has caused a surge in cases of rape and the abduction of women and girls, some as young as 12, aid agencies and officials say.

Teenage girls are being sexually assaulted and raped by armed combatants in “alarming numbers”, Save the Children said on Friday, while the UN reported a “marked increase” in gender-based violence.

The war that erupted on April 15 pits Sudan's army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who fell out over plans for a political transition to civilian rule. Fighting has been concentrated in the capital Khartoum and the western region of Darfur.

While dozens of cases of rape resulting from the conflict have been verified, the Sudanese government's Combating Violence against Women (CVAW) unit estimates that figure may represent just 2% of the total.

“We know that the official numbers are only the tip of the iceberg. Children as young as 12 are being targeted for their gender, for their ethnicity, for their vulnerability,” Save the Children's Sudan director Arif Noor said.

Some parents were marrying off their daughters at a young age to try to protect them from further abuse, he said.

There have also been reports of girls being held for days while being sexually assaulted, and gang rapes of women and girls.

“Healthcare providers, social workers, counsellors and community-based protection networks inside Sudan have all warned of a marked increase in reports of gender-based violence as hostilities continue across the country,” UN agencies said this week.

“Reporting violations and getting support is also made difficult, if not impossible, by the lack of electricity and connectivity, as well as lack of humanitarian access due to the volatile security situation.”

CVAW also reported an escalation in cases of abduction of women and girls, especially in Khartoum, citing several recent cases for which it said RSF fighters were responsible.

The RSF has not directly addressed accusations of assault and sexual violence by its fighters, but has said that those who commit abuses will be held to account.

The UN estimates 4.2-million people are at risk of gender-based violence, up from 3-million before the conflict started in mid-April. Sudan has a population of 49-million.

The UN said the risk was especially high when women and girls were on the move, seeking to reach safe locations.

More than 2.9-million people have been uprooted by Sudan's conflict, including nearly 700,000 who have fled into neighbouring countries.

Some women are arriving pregnant as a result of rape, according to the UN refugee agency.

Meanwhile, AI-powered robotic vehicles could deliver food parcels to conflict and disaster zones by as early as next year in a move aimed to spare the lives of humanitarian workers, says a World Food Programme (WFP) official.

Attacks against aid workers have intensified in recent years amid the highest number of violent conflicts since World War 2, according to the UN. WFP, the UN's food aid agency, alone lost three workers earlier this year in Sudan's conflict.

“Sometimes it's too dangerous to send in a driver or WFP staff. So using that technology could actually be a step change,” said Bernhard Kowatsch, who heads the WFP's innovation department.

Kowatsch was speaking on the sidelines of a conference organised by the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva to make the case for AI to help reach UN global goals, such as eliminating hunger.

The trucks are amphibious and can carry about 1-2 tonnes of food each. They were first conceived during the battle for Syria's Aleppo, between 2012 and 2016, when humanitarian workers struggled to get aid to besieged parts of the city, Kowatsch said.

Air drops were expensive and required large spaces not readily available in that part of Syria, he said.

The UN agency is already using about 50 of the vehicles in South Sudan but they require drivers. As part of the Ahead (Autonomous Humanitarian Emergency Aid Devices) project with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), WFP will test them without drivers early next year, Kowatsch said.

AI is used to combine data gleaned from various sources including satellite and sensors, allowing remote drivers to steer the vehicles.

South Sudan, where some 7.7-million people face severe food insecurity and flooding hampers access, is set to be the first place for the rollout, Kowatsch said.


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