Women In War-Torn Sudanese City Forced Into Sexual Exploitation In Exchange For Food: Report

Sudan Conflict: Over two dozen women who could not escape have revealed that sex with members of the Sudanese army is their only means of accessing food or goods to sell for their families' sustenance.

File Photo | Although the UN’s World Food Programme recently reported deliveries to Sudan's Khartoum area, women said they had not seen any international aid in their neighbourhoods.

Source : Getty Images

Sudan Conflict: Women in the war-torn city of Omdurman, Sudan, are being compelled to engage in sexual activities with soldiers to obtain food, according to a report by The Guardian. Over two dozen women who could not escape the ongoing conflict have revealed that sex with members of the Sudanese army is their only means of accessing food or goods to sell for their families' sustenance.

The majority of these assaults reportedly occur in the "factories area" of the city, where food is most available. One victim, who needed food for her elderly parents and 18-year-old daughter, shared her harrowing experience.

"Both of my parents are too old and sick, and I never let my daughter go out to look for food," she said, as quoted by The Guardian's report. "I went to the soldiers, and that was the only way to get food – they were everywhere in the factories area."

This woman was forced to have sex with soldiers at a meat-processing factory in May last year, shortly after the civil war erupted between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). She was again assaulted at a warehouse storing fava beans in January this year, the report stated.

Before the conflict, the 37-year-old woman, who appeared pale and thin during interviews, worked as a maid for affluent families in Omdurman. However, she was too poor to flee the city with her family when the fighting began.

The conflict in Sudan has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and displaced over 10 million people, according to the United Nations. A recent UN-backed report indicated that nearly 26 million people, over half the population, are facing "acute food insecurity."

Sudan Conflict: Horrifying Details Of Torture And Sexual Exploitation Surface

Reports of sexual violence by armed men emerged soon after the conflict started on 15 April, 2023. Numerous accounts of systematic sexual violence perpetrated by RSF fighters have been documented in the Khartoum area and Darfur, where the RSF now controls all but one major population centre.

Women speaking to The Guardian disclosed that soldiers also demand sex in exchange for access to abandoned houses, where it is still possible to loot items to sell in local markets. One woman recounted her ordeal:

"I am not a thief," she said. "What I went through is indescribable. I would not wish it on an enemy … I only did it because I wanted to feed my children."

Aid organisations have struggled to deliver food to those in desperate need across the country. Although the UN’s World Food Programme recently reported deliveries to the Khartoum area, the women interviewed said they had not seen any international aid in their neighbourhoods.

A 21-year-old woman revealed she was tortured by soldiers after ceasing to engage in sexual activities with them. She had initially agreed to sex in exchange for permission to loot houses in west Omdurman but stopped after her brothers opposed the looting. When she informed the soldiers of her decision, they burned her legs. "I was told by the soldiers that I was full of myself for refusing to go with them," she said, displaying her burn marks, as per the report.

Soldiers and residents of Omdurman corroborated these reports, as per The Guardian. One soldier admitted to witnessing his colleagues exploiting women, though he claimed he never participated. He recounted one incident where a woman had sex with soldiers, who then allowed her sisters to loot houses. "It's awful," the soldier said. "The amount of sins in this city can never be forgiven."

A resident of West Omdurman described seeing soldiers bringing women to houses abandoned by those who fled. "A lot of women come and queue outside our neighbourhood," he said. "The soldiers let them enter and choose those they like the look of to enter houses. I sometimes hear screaming, but what can you do? Nothing."