Women

Women In Sudan Are Mass Killing Themselves To Avoid Being Raped By Paramilitary Fighters In The Civil War

Between Oct. 20 to 29, RSF fighters indiscriminately shot at civilians, sexually assaulted women and girls, looted markets and homes and burned down farms, according to the UN.

Cherry Mohamed Kassy Cho

Cherry Mohamed, Joanna Lee, Kassy Cho

— 7 min read
Women In Sudan Are Mass Killing Themselves To Avoid Being Raped By Paramilitary Fighters In The Civil War

Women in Sudan are mass killing themselves to avoid being raped by paramilitary fighters in the civil war.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Sudanese refugees who have fled from the war in Sudan line up during a cash assistance programme at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 15, 2024. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP)

Here’s what’s going on.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Smoke plumes billow from a fire at a lumber warehouse in southern Khartoum amidst ongoing fighting on June 7, 2023. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Sudan has been in a civil war since April 2023, due to a power struggle between two military forces.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage on April 20, 2023, shows an aerial view of black smoke rising above the Khartoum International Airport amid ongoing battles between the forces of two rival generals. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

The country has been ruled by a military government since 2021, after the military overthrew the long-time dictator in a coup in 2019.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Via Lana H. Haroun

The military coup was led by two generals – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sudanese army and the current de-facto ruler of Sudan, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti), now de facto deputy military leader, attends a meeting of representatives of the tripartite mechanism in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on June 8, 2022. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)

Hemedti is the leader of the Rapid Support Forces or RSF, a powerful paramilitary – or unofficial military – group funded by the UAE, and had previously been al-Burhan's deputy.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Sudanese, displaced from the al-Jazira district, arrive in the eastern city of Gedaref on October 26, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

The two generals have since fallen out and began fighting for control of the country in April, 2023.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Sudanese refugees who have fled from the war in Sudan get off a truck loaded with families arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 13, 2024. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP)

The civil war has since killed tens of thousands of people, and both the RSF and the Sudanese army have been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But now women civilians are even more impacted than before.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Via X

On Sep. 26, the army regained control over some parts of the capital, Khartoum, which had been under RSF’s rule since April 2023.

The army then announced on Oct. 20 that a top RSF commander had surrendered.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Via X

In response, RSF fighters went on a rampage as revenge in villages and towns in Gezira state, where the commander is from.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Sudanese people fleeing the al-Jazira state arrive at an area near the eastern city of Gedaref on November 2, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Between Oct. 20 to 29, RSF fighters indiscriminately shot at civilians, sexually assaulted women and girls, looted markets and homes and burned down farms, according to the UN.

In one village, the RSF killed at least 124 people and injured more than 200 others in one of the deadliest incidents since the civil war began.

Witnesses on social media reported that the RSF killed men, women, children and people with disabilities in Gezira state, leaving bodies scattered in the streets.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Via X

Several women then killed themselves to protect themselves from being raped, with some accounts reporting up to 130 women killing themselves.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Refugee women cry in the Gorom refugee settlement during Foreign Minister Baerbock's visit. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa (Photo by Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

According to one woman on X, the women in her family agreed that if the RSF attacked them, they would go to the river and drown themselves by tying something heavy to them.

Since the war erupted in Sudan, more than 24,800 people have been killed, and 10 million Sudanese have been displaced.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Sudanese families who have fled from the war in Sudan carry their belongings while arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 14, 2024. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP)

UN Women has called the impact on women and girls "catastrophic".

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
A Sudanese girl who have fled from the war in Sudan with her family carry a box with some of her belongings after arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP)

More than half of the Sudanese population, approximately 26 million people, are now also “at risk of famine”, according to the World Food Programme.

sudan women mass suicide rape civil war rsf
Orphans and children separated from their parents in Kadugli gather to eat boiled leaves for food at an IDP Camp within Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area in Boram County, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, Sudan June 22, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya To Match Special Report FAMINE-AID/SUDAN

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