Darfur network urges the current authorities in Sudan obligated to protect women and children against sexual violence to take the necessary steps to modify the security situation in the region and place serious repercussions on the perpetrators who take advantage of the security unrest to subject women to humiliation and great fear, physical and emotional injury” On Friday 4^th November 2022, the IDP, aged 35 years old, a resident of Central 8, Nirtiti Camp, was violently attacked by a Trespasser to her farm at approximately 2 pm. The victim is a peasant farmer, a mother of 5 young children.

DNMD, Monitors interviewed the victim and she narrated that the incident took place when the Victim, was inside her farm, the assailant approached with an approximate number of 50 cattle, on her interjecting to the intruder’s trespass, he responded by severally beating her, she narrates that she was thrown onto the ground. “I was approached by the assailant and he kept on screaming at me if you want compensation we shall give you while beating me” she describes the assailant as wearing the Traditional wear of the Arab Tribe, she further narrated that she was assisted by one “Jido Mohamed Hamdo” an officer of the Rapid Support Forces and an officer of the “Committee for Protection of the Harvesting Season in Darfur”.

The victim sustained injuries to her Head and Head and Kidney area, she also complains of pain in her legs, since she was thrown on the ground. The perpetrator was apprehended by the Committee by the name of “Bushara Mohamed” approximately 43 years of Age. She reported the matter to the Police and received Police forms for medical treatment. The victim’s only source of income is farming and her injuries have incapacitated her of her daily activities, the Farm is a source of income in which she fends for her young Children.

In a separate related incident, on October 30, 2022, a group of 8 women IDPs resident of Central 7, Nitiridi Camp for IDPs were subjected to Severe Beatings, and attempted Rape, by two individuals described by the Victims to be wearing Military Uniforms, while on their way back from collecting materials for making brooms.

DNMD interviewed two of the Victims who had the opportunity to narrate their ordeal. In an interview with Fatima Mahmoud aged 37 years, resident of Central 7, Nitiridi Camp, she narrates that at around 7 pm on their way back, they were intercepted by a group of two individuals wearing Military Uniforms. “We were told to stop, we are going to kill all of you, today is your last day on earth,” she said. The assailants were described by the victim to be wearing Military Uniforms, speaking Arabic, and their appearance was of the Arab tribe,

“We were told to Lie down on the ground, and we were severally beaten, I was hit on my head and knees, and we were tormented greatly before we were left to escape” she further described that one of them managed to escape “Fatima ”, the child Messi Zakaria was returned two days after the attack.

The victim mainly works in collecting and selling firewood to earn a minimal income, she lives in dire poverty, she describes being worried about the only pair of shoes, that she left behind following the attack, she feels threatened to continue her normal course of living that might earn her minimal income, that hardly sustains her children’s needs who are totally six in number.

The victim told DNMD monitors that she does not own beds or bedding at her home. She prays for a donkey to aid her movement, to enable her to earn fees for her children, and for a better security situation that will not leave her vulnerable to such attacks. She equally narrated that she reported the matter to the police, however, the police did not release any medical form, and the victims remain unapprehended.

DNMD monitors interviewed a second victim of the attack, Samia 25 years of age a mother of five children, an IDP, resident of Central 7, Nitiridi Camp for IDPs, she narrates that on the 30^th of October 2022, they were on their way returning from collecting materials for brooms, when they were apprehended by the two assailants, and described that she managed to escape the attack since her position was the edge of the line in which they were lying on the ground. She escaped and rushed to the Army of Al-Zeeber Camp.

She equally narrated that her husband was killed in 2018, at Lagi, by Arab Militias of the “Irigat” Tribe at Nitirid Locality, from inside his farm, in an attempt to take over his farm, and proceeded to cut down the trees on the farm. Following the death of her husband it has not been easy to be a single mother, she Lays Bricks for a living, she Lays a maximum of 1000 bricks, a task expected to be completed in 5 days to earn 3000/SDG, less than 6 dollars. She equally demands Government protection for better living conditions for herself and her children.

In South Darfur state, killing of young girls for having relationships outside marriage ( A curse? Violence against Women in Darfur)

A girl was killed by her brothers in the Bulbul Abu Jazo area, 41 km west of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur because she was talking to a stranger on a mobile phone. A relative of the dead woman, who requested his name, told DNMD Monitors that the dead woman, “Hikma Abdullah Ishaq,” was killed on 21^st October 2022, after her brother found her making a phone call, and forced her to confess to whomever she was talking to. She died instantly.

He stated that the perpetrators agreed after her death to bury her, but notables from the area stood against burying her without an autopsy so that she would be transferred to the city of Nyala. A police source in Al-Salam locality confirmed the escape of the main suspect from the area after Hikma’s death was confirmed, while investigations are still underway to arrest the perpetrators, who participated in the beating of the victim’s brother, after writing a report in the area police station. The Director of the General Department of Women and Family at the Ministry of Social Affairs, “Sarah Mustafa Moussa”, said that the repeated murders of girls in the state require legal deterrence. Sarah revealed that the Ministry of Social Affairs raised a recommendation to the state government to instruct the prosecution not to allow civil settlements regarding murders of women to prevent the perpetrators from escaping due punishment, but the state government did nothing about it.

On the sixth of last June, 5 girls were killed by their relatives in the Debbat Hamra area in the Al Salam locality, on the pretext that they possessed a mobile phone after tying them to logs and torturing them to death. The police later arrested some of the accused, while the search is still underway to arrest others who hid from prosecution.

In May of last year, two girls were killed under torture and three others were subjected to excessive violence in the Atalaya locality, East Darfur state, by brothers. The families of the accused are currently putting pressure on the local government of Al-Firdaws in East Darfur to release their sons from the police guard, on the pretext that the family did not write a report against the perpetrators, and that it is ready to give up the blood of its dead daughters. The incidents of killing and torturing women were not limited to South and East Darfur, as two girls were killed in Wada’a town in Kalimandu locality in North Darfur state in January 2020 at the hands of their brothers and sisters under the pretext of having romantic relations with men in the town.

Darfur Network for Monitoring and Documentation DNMD repeats the calls it has made to the Sudanese government to stop all attacks against women immediately; to cease all support to and disarm the Janjaweed militia and put them in a position where they can no longer attack the civilian population; to provide unfettered access to all humanitarian organizations; to allow human rights monitors and human rights organizations into the Darfur region, and to allow independent investigations of the massive human rights violations committed by members of the Janjaweed militia and of its own armed forces and bring to justice all those suspected to be responsible.

For more information, contact Mohammed Hassan, Executive Director, DNMD at email: [email protected] and on Tel: (+256)752792112 (+249)924638036.