Women are forced to have sex with soldiers for food in Sudan.
A shocking report by The Guardian reveals that women in the city of Omdurman are being forced into sex with soldiers in exchange for food.
The women who escaped from the Sudanese city of Omdurman recounted that having sex with soldiers was the only option to get food or essential goods that they could sell to raise money to feed their families.
One woman who spoke to the Guardian said the sex took place in factories across the city where the food is stored.
“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,” said a woman, who was forced to have sex with soldiers at a meat-processing factory in May last year.
The assaults started shortly after a civil war erupted in the country which has seen the country’s army clashing with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Also read: Pakistan completes evacuation of all citizens from crisis-hit Sudan
Reports of rape by armed men emerged within days of the conflict starting on 15 April last year.
It is important to mention that the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, with some estimates placing the death count as high as 150,000.
The civil war has also created the world’s worst displacement crisis — with more than 11 million uprooted and brought the country to the brink of famine.
Several women have shared painful stories of RSF fighters sexually assaulting them in a systematic manner in areas under their control.
The soldiers have also demanded sex in exchange for access to abandoned houses where it is still possible to loot items to sell in local markets, the women told the Guardian.
One woman said that she was allowed to take food, kitchen equipment and perfumes from empty houses after she had sex with soldiers.
“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,” she said.
Residents of the city claimed they see soldiers bringing women to abandoned houses where they were made to queue up as soldier picked the ones “they liked the look of”.
“A lot of women come and queue outside our neighborhood. I sometimes hear screaming but what can you do? Nothing,” one resident said.
Another 21-year-old woman told the Guardian that once she refused to have sex with the solider they burned her legs.
A soldier, who denied ever abusing a woman himself, said he had witnessed his colleagues. “It’s awful. The amount of the sins in this city can never been be forgiven,” he said.
