In the war-ravaged region of Darfur, Sudan, a sinister pattern of sexual violence has emerged, as militia fighters terrorize minority groups with a campaign of rape and ethnic slurs, according to a disturbing new UN report. The chilling accounts from survivors paint a picture of unimaginable horror, with fears mounting that the brutality may amount to genocide.
“We Will Make You Have Arab Babies”
The UN fact-finding mission report, which focuses on the atrocities committed by the notorious Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, reveals the harrowing experiences of rape victims aged between just 8 and 75 years old. But in Darfur, particularly among the Masalit ethnic group, the sexual violence took on an even more sinister dimension.
Survivors recounted how their attackers openly declared their intent to impregnate Masalit girls and women, forcing them to bear “Arab children.” One victim from the city of El Geneina, a predominantly Masalit area, shared the chilling words of her rapist: “We will make you, the Masalit girls, give birth to Arab children.”
“This year, all girls must be pregnant by the Janjaweed.”
– Overheard by Masalit rape survivors
Targeting Masalit Men and Women
The ethnically motivated violence reached a tipping point in El Geneina, where RSF fighters seized control in June 2023 after intense fighting. According to the report, the paramilitaries conducted door-to-door raids in Masalit neighborhoods, systematically hunting down men to kill while subjecting women to sexual assault and other brutalities.
After enduring the unthinkable, many Masalit women were callously told to flee Sudan for neighboring Chad, their lives forever shattered by the heinous acts committed against them and their community.
War Crimes and Ethnic Cleansing
Caroline Buisman, who coordinatedthe fact-finding mission, pulled no punches in her assessment of the situation. She stated unequivocally that the RSF and its allied militias had perpetrated war crimes against the Masalit people, ranging from sexual violence and torture to attacks on civilians and forcible displacement.
“We found that rape and other forms of sexual violence committed by the RSF and its allied militias formed part of large-scale attacks which targeted, in particular, the Masalit community, on the basis of their ethnicity.”
– Caroline Buisman, Coordinator for the Sudan Fact-Finding Mission
A Legacy of Violence
The RSF’s brutal tactics are not a new phenomenon. The paramilitary group, which emerged from the notorious Janjaweed militias, has a long and bloody history of targeting non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur. The early 2000s saw a similar wave of violence that caught the attention of the International Criminal Court, where investigations into potential genocide are ongoing.
Human rights activists argue that the RSF’s actions bear all the hallmarks of a genocidal campaign. Hala Al-Karib, regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, minced no words in her assessment:
“The RSF has used sexual violence as a tool for ethnic cleansing and there are definitely footprints of genocide, particularly in western Darfur. I don’t think the scale of what happened there is still fully known.”
– Hala Al-Karib, Regional Director of SIHA
Breaking Communities and Claiming Superiority
According to Dr. Marwa Gibril, a Darfuri activist, the RSF’s use of sexual violence serves a twofold purpose: to break the spirit of minority communities and to assert the supposed superiority of Arab tribes.
“To keep their superiority, they invade these areas and make sure that they kill the men and change the gene pool by raping women and having babies that are Arabs, not Masalit or Fur or any other black ethnicity.”
– Dr. Marwa Gibril, Darfuri Activist
A Cry for Justice
As the horrifying testimonies from Darfur survivors pile up, the international community faces mounting pressure to act. The UN report serves as a clarion call for justice, urging swift action to hold the perpetrators accountable and protect the vulnerable populations caught in the crosshairs of this brutal conflict.
The world cannot turn a blind eye to the atrocities unfolding in Darfur. The haunting words of the survivors serve as a stark reminder of the human cost of inaction. It is a moral imperative to heed their cry for help and to work tirelessly to bring an end to the unspeakable suffering inflicted upon them.
In the face of such unimaginable cruelty, silence is complicity. The international community must rally together to ensure that the voices of the Darfur survivors are heard, their pain acknowledged, and their right to justice upheld. Only then can we hope to break the cycle of violence and lay the foundations for a brighter, more peaceful future for all the people of Sudan.
