‘Mass rape in Guldo in Darfur’s Jebel Marra’

According to multiple sources in Jebel Marra, government troops reportedly raped 'a large number of women' in Guldo on Monday evening.

“Army and militia troops in about 30 vehicles arrived at Guldo on Monday afternoon,” a resident of Guldo told Radio Dabanga.

“After sunset, they began roaming the town, broke into the houses, and raped many, many women in the presence of their families, at gunpoint,” he said.

Khazan Tunjur

In Argotogo village, 13 kilometres southwest of Khazan Tunjur in North Darfur's Tawila locality, three paramilitaries gang-raped a woman on Tuesday afternoon.

A relative of the victim told Radio Dabanga that the woman (25) and her mother were on their way from Argotogo village to the market of Khazan Tunjur, when three members of a government militia on camels and wearing military uniforms intercepted them.

“They robbed them of their belongings, after which they took turns to rape the woman,” she said.

'Weapon of war'

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its World Report 2016, patterns of rape across Darfur in 2014 and 2015 show that various Sudanese units have deliberately committed rape against large numbers of women in many attacks at various locations and times.

“Sudan’s forces have frequently raped and terrorised civilians with impunity,” said Daniel Bekele, HRW Africa director. “The pattern, scale, and frequency of rape suggests that Sudan’s security forces have adopted this sickeningly cruel practice as a weapon of war.”

In January 2015, government forces attacked the town of Golo in Jebel Marra. They “raped some women and they made the men carry stones from place to place as punishment,” a woman related to HRW. In June, dozens of women and their daughters in Golo told France24 reporters that they were raped by government-backed militiamen, and that their men were beaten and threatened.

Radio Dabanga reported a huge mass rape in Tabit in Tawila locality in late October 2014. More than 200 women and girls were raped by army soldiers in less than two days. Sudanese authorities blocked Unamid from independently investigating the crimes and has prevented aid groups from accessing the town. The government has categorically denied the mass rape.