Kidnapping and Sexual Violence In Khor Jahannam (2-3)

Sudan Events – Report

Sudanese Events continued publishing of the report that was prepared through field research conducted by dedicated researchers from the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies.
Resort to Social Media
Due to a lack of access to the justice system, families of missing persons have turned to social media, particularly Facebook, to make public announcements.
However, a simple analysis of these posts reveals that the announcements for missing women and girls are not at the same level as those for missing males.
Since the outbreak of war, 450 missing persons have been announced, but the announcements for missing women and girls only began in June 2023, with 18 cases published.
Additionally, there are cases that were published among the lists issued by human rights groups since the eruption of the April war. In June 2023, media outlets reported that the Sudanese Group for Victims of Enforced Disappearance had officially reported disappearance cases based on lists of missing persons obtained via phone conversations with their families, using phone numbers attached to their names.
Nature and scope of war
Cities under Siege and Robbery
Since the war began, many Sudanese cities have become battlegrounds between the two sides.
Forces from both sides have imposed their control over some residential neighborhoods to use them as military headquarters after forcing civilians to leave for safe areas.
This has been accompanied by robberies and looting of public and private places, including houses. Several cities have witnessed widespread looting, but according to unofficial reports, widespread fighting has been concentrated in Khartoum State, making it the first area to be targeted.
The activities of kidnapping have been linked to the use of possibly stolen cars.
According to Mahmoud, a human rights activist belonging to the same pastoral group from which most of the Janjaweed originated, A. A left his position at the Border Guard Militias established by Omar Bashir’s ousted regime in Darfur in 200, and joined the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Upon the eruption of war, he moved from Darfur to Khartoum and returned by the end of April 2023 driving a Toyota pickup vehicle. He then traveled to Khartoum again and came back by the mid of May driving another vehicle and with a bullet injury on his leg.
According to independent human rights organizations, dozens of four-wheel-drive vehicles crossed from Khartoum towards the Darfur region in western Sudan. It is unknown if they remained in Darfur or crossed the border into a western and northern African country.
It has been noted that most of these cars were loaded with cardboard boxes concealing what was inside them, despite the presence of testimonies and notes indicating that they often contained foreign currency.
This was apparent during June 2023, during a break in those transactions and during a stopover in the city of Al-Adana, where a Sudanese employee working in East Darfur worked.
The employee reported that shopkeepers and fuel dealers required buyers to pay for their purchases in US Dollars.
Some pedestrians had repeatedly asked to exchange foreign currencies for Sudanese pounds in May 2023. The employee also added that an individual in RSF’s uniform had paid US$200 for fuel, and that no trace of women had been shown on those cars, which led to a search and investigation effort that turned to focus on other means.
A journey of 1.352 Km long Towards the Unknown
Our research journey required us to travel along the road from Khartoum through West Omdurman, passing through El Obeid in North Kordofan, and then to the borders of El Fasher without entering it. We then made a turn through the paved street which continues through the village of Kafut, about 42 kilometers west of El Fasher, and then to Kutum, 1,352 kilometers from Khartoum. We visited several different suburbs where the groups that stole those cars live.
During our investigation, we obtained testimonies about the appearance of some women and girls on those cars.
Some of them were chained and said they were probably kidnapped from Khartoum city. Four civilians from Kuim area, which is adjacent to the western gate to North Darfur, reported seeing more than 70 cars and half of the girls who were transported in Sudan. More than ten others were girls.
Hassan, a resident of the area, said that the phenomenon was first seen in May 2023 and started to grow during June 2023.
All those who spoke voluntarily and asked not to be identified agreed that they were displeased with the growing phenomenon and described it as alien to Sudanese communities and the state of North Darfur.
Women and Minors Victims of sexual Slavery
Despite these reports, the identities of some of the victims, numbering in the dozens, including girls, remain shrouded in mystery due to kidnappings in the areas of Abu Adam, Jabra, As-Salama, Iad Hussein, south of Al-Hazm, and Al-Azhari in Khartoum. On social media, however, there are announcements accompanied by photos of a number of girls who have been kidnapped since the beginning of the war, in addition to the names that have been published on the lists of the disappeared by some human rights organizations.
“Ten cases of women, including four female beverage and food vendors, who were detained, sexually exploited, and forced into prostitution by the kidnappers, were spotted at the Guarantee Hotel and the New Testament building of the Coptic Church and the Stock Exchange in Nyala, South Darfur, by individuals dressed in RSF’s uniforms, since 25 June 2023.
Lucky Survivors
Although the Sudanese Armed Forces are involved in the current conflict, direct testimonies from military sources indicate that they have released a number of individuals, some of them in early July 2023.
This was followed by the arrest of three armed men in RSF’s uniforms who were in a Toyota pick-up truck. They were captured in the Al-Jamia neighborhood, east of Al-Fasher city, several kilometers from the Al-Kabir market by a group of the Civilian Protection Force of the Armed Struggle Forces.
They were accompanied by two girls, aged 20 and 18, who were chained, and handed over with the three suspects to the Military Intelligence Command in Al-Fasher in early July.
The military source revealed that the Western brigade contacted the families of the two girls kidnapped from Khartoum, before they were handed over to their relatives in Al-Fashir and sent back to Khartoum.
The source added that the victims reported that they had undergone sexual violence and starvation before they reached the city of Al-Fashir.
Eyewitnesses
In the same context, seven eyewitnesses from Dar Al-Salam district, located 45 kilometers southeast of Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, explained that on July 22, 2023, three girls under the age of 20 were released in the Wada’a area for ransom to their kidnappers.
The kidnappers, three persons wearing RSF’s uniforms, were on their way to the state of East Darfur. The ransom of 9 billion Sudanese pounds, equivalent to $3 billion or $18,500, was paid to free the girls.
The sum was placed in a new tank, and the victims were returned to their families in Khartoum.
The eyewitnesses added that the abduction operation took place in Khartoum, and one of the RSF members who had been abducted from Khartoum denied it, as he put it.
Tayba, a farmer in the Korma area, said that the road to Kabkabiya witnessed scores of girls being taken away in the vehicles of gunmen who had fled the battles in Khartoum. She added that local communities have shown their utter helplessness in the face of innocent victims while waving their hands to rescue the gunmen.
Local residents, including the families of the kidnappers, confirmed that in early June, coinciding with the end of battles between the army and the RSF, and after the RSF took control of the city, more than 20 cars loaded with boxes arrived.
Some of the boxes showed girls tied to chains. Three of them appeared in Damrah Seh Jannah, 15 kilometers north of Kutum.