In Sudan’s war-ravaged city of Omdurman, women are being compelled to have sex with soldiers in exchange for food, according to the Guardian, citing accounts from more than two dozen women.
The women who spoke to the outlet described harrowing instances where sexual intercourse with members of the Sudanese army is the only means to obtain food or sellable goods to support their families. The assaults predominantly occur in the city’s “factories area”, where the most food is available.
One victim, responsible for her elderly parents and 18-year-old daughter, stated: “Both of my parents are too old and sick and I never let my daughter go out to look for food… I went to the soldiers and that was the only way to get food – they were everywhere in the factories area.”
She recounted being forced to have sex with soldiers at a meat-processing factory last May and again at a warehouse storing fava beans in January. Before the conflict, she worked as a maid but lacked the resources to flee the city when war broke out between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The UN reports that the Sudanese conflict has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and displaced over 10 million people, with nearly 26 million facing “acute food insecurity.” Reports of rape by armed men emerged soon after the conflict started on 15 April 2023, with numerous accounts of systematic sexual violence by RSF fighters in Khartoum and Darfur.
Women have also been forced to trade sex for access to abandoned houses to loot items to sell. One woman, ashamed of the sexual assaults she endured and being driven to theft, said: “I am not a thief… I only did it because I wanted to feed my children.”
Despite the UN’s World Food Programme making deliveries to the Khartoum area, women reported seeing no international aid in their neighbourhoods.
Residents and soldiers corroborated these reports, with one soldier admitting to witnessing his colleagues taking advantage of women. He described one incident where a woman had sex with soldiers, who in turn allowed her sisters to loot houses. “It’s awful,” the soldier said. “The amount of the sins in this city can never be forgiven.”