@USAmbUN says women and girls were raped by RSF elements in WFP storage facilities controlled by RSF

At X @USAmbUN posts “Women and girls, some as young as 14 years old, were raped by RSF elements in World Food Program storage facilities controlled by RSF. The UN Panel of Experts' report on Sudan is stomach-churning and cannot be ignored. The international community must act."

“Women and girls, some as young as 14 years old, were raped by RSF elements in World Food Program storage facilities controlled by RSF.”

The UN Panel of Experts' report on Sudan is stomach-churning and cannot be ignored. The international community must act. pic.twitter.com/wpe9GcQDe3

— Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (@USAmbUN) March 6, 2024

END

Rape an everyday reality in war-hit Sudan - activist

Report from BBC News Sudan
Dated Wednesday, 22 November 2023 15:01 GMT

Rape an everyday reality in war-hit Sudan - activist

A rights activist in Sudan says sexual violence against women has become a deliberate tactic in the civil war which started in April.

Hala al-Karib, who runs the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, says 70% of documented cases of sexual violence are gang rape, and that the targeting of women and girls has become part of everyday reality.

She told the BBC's Newsday radio programme that both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had carried out attacks on women, but that the paramilitaries appeared to be using it as a tactic to intimidate communities.

A conference is being held in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, to highlight the impact of the war in Sudan on women.

Read: Gang-raped and racially abused

Click here to view original.

[Ends]

Sudanese fleeing Khartoum couldn't handle 2 weeks of what Darfuris have endured over the past 20 years

Those Sudanese who have fled had the means - this highlights the fate of those who don't have the money https://t.co/vAzrsGUucA

— Vauldi Carelse (@vauldicarelse) April 30, 2023

Tom Bateman @tombateman: But Hosna says she must find nearly US$500 per ticket, as the men running the routes from Khartoum to the border have raised the fares 20-fold due to the demand to escape. Now the poorest are being left behind, the most likely to pay with their lives. 2/2

Sudan Darfur: Widespread epidemic of ethnically-targeted gang rape of girls and women continues

Here is a copy of a tweet with interesting maps posted by Eric Reeves @sudanreeves 25 Aug 2019:  The epidemic of sexual violence in Darfur continues, as the rape of girls and women remains a central weapon in ethnically-targeted war against non-Arab populations.  And not just N Darfur: hese maps indicate just how  widespread this heinous crime is: https://wp.me/p45rOG-1Qy 

The epidemic of sexual violence in Darfur continues, as the rape of girls and women remains a central weapon in ethnically-targeted war against non-Arab populations. And not just N Darfur: hese maps indicate just how widespread this heinous crime is: https://t.co/kmHH52YWsw pic.twitter.com/M4ZmqPit6r

— Eric Reeves (@sudanreeves) 25 August 2019

To visit the above tweet click here: https://twitter.com/sudanreeves/status/1165710404665917441

S. Sudan: UN rights experts see little headway on peace deal amid spike in local-level violence

UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan:  “The lack of progress in establishing transitional justice mechanisms...is delaying accountability and reparation – Commission member Barney Afako”

Article from and by UN.org

Dated Friday 23 August 2019

South Sudan: UN rights experts see little headway on peace deal amid spike in local-level violence

A United Nations expert group looking at human rights in South Sudan said on Friday that it is “deeply concerned” that, although the overall armed conflict has waned, there has been little progress in adhering to the peace agreement that guided the country thus far.

Photo: Child Soldiers are released in South Sudan in July 2019 as the country's efforts towards peace continue. Credit UNMISS\Nektarios Markogiannis

“Civilians with whom we spoke still raised numerous concerns that they feel are barriers to sustainable peace,” said Yasmin Sooka, Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, reporting from Juba on the panel’s seventh field mission, currently under way through 29 August and which includes South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

During their visit, the three Commissioners listened to South Sudanese women, men and children express numerous concerns, including the localization of conflict linked to land, resources, and cattle; and inefficiencies in implementing the Revitalized Peace Agreement, which, signed by the warring parties in September 2018, has been commended as a significant development toward the dawn of peace.

Photo: The UN Commission on Human Rights in Sudan (from left) Yasmin Sooka, Chair, Andrew Clapham and Barney Afako (2018), by UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan /Twitter screen grab

They are also worried about deteriorating living conditions for the internally displaced, security and the continued shrinking space for civic engagement, among many other concerns.

“Despite the numerous challenges we heard, we were encouraged by the fact that committees composed of military and civil actors have been formed to improve civil-military relations and support local justice and reconciliation in Yei River state, where civilians could raise dispute resolutions,” said Commissioner Andrew Clapham.

“Such mechanisms that facilitate communication between armed actors and civilians could be replicated in other locations where violent conflict and violations have been witnessed in the country,” he added.

Little redress for sexual violence

Apprehension over continued impunity for sexual and gender-based violence, which is still at an all-time high, was another major concern – as survivors of sexual violence remained with only limited access for redress.

In Bentiu, the Commission heard testimonies of sexual violence from women who are waiting to share their stories with an accountability mechanism.

“The lack of progress in establishing transitional justice mechanisms, including the Hybrid Court, the commission for truth, reconciliation, and healing and the compensation and reparation authority, which are to be complemented by customary and other community-centred mechanisms, is delaying accountability and reparation for these and other crimes,” said Commission member Barney Afako.

He continued, underscoring that “so long as the voices of victims and survivors are not empowered, and these mechanisms not put in place, it is highly unlikely that South Sudanese women, men, girls, and boys will be able to witness a lasting peace”.

Overcome delays

In closing, the Commission stressed the importance of overcoming delays regarding the Revitalized Peace Agreement, and encouraged the positive work being carried out by the National Constitutional Amendment Committee.

The current mission will continue until Monday, after which the Commissioners will separately visit Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya until 29 August.

The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan is an independent body mandated by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to, among other things, determine and report the facts of and clarify responsibility for alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence, with a view to ending impunity and providing accountability.

The Commission will present an oral update on the human rights situation in South Sudan to the Council on 16 September and a comprehensive written report in March 2020.

To visit original article click here: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044831

Dear Baby Mogo in Upper Nile State, S. Sudan: Will you live to your 5th birthday?

Copied here below is a must-read short story from Sudan Watch archives November 14, 2005. The story was written by a friend of Rob Haarsager, Richard Reesor, who had just returned from a visit to a small village in Upper Nile, Southern Sudan (photo also courtesy of Richard - sorry, hyperlink to Sudan Man blog has broken).

Dear baby Mogo, I often think of you, hoping you are alive and feeling well, wondering what your eyes are seeing now.  God bless the children of Sudan and pray for US sanctions on Sudan to be lifted.  Here is the photo and story by Richard Reesor c. November 2005, followed by another of my favourites from Sudan Watch archives, November 27, 2004:   A prayer for the janjaweed rape babies.

Baby Mogo, what will your eyes see?
You were born 5 months ago, the first baby born in your village after the signing of the peace treaty ending 22 years of war. Will you know a life of peace, or will the prospects of peace in your land only be a cruel mirage that evaporates in your eyes before your 5th birthday?

Will you live to your 5th birthday?
Or, will you succumb to the threats of malaria, malnutrition and unsafe drinking water because your village lacks access to a medical clinic. As your village chief warns, "Disease does not wait until morning and the 10 hour walk to the nearest clinic!"

Will you attend school?
Will your mind learn to recognize the letters and words your eyes see so you can read and write, so you can explore through books, the sciences, history, learn to reason and learn about other cultures and their understanding of God?

How will you earn your living?
Will you learn from a teacher about mysteries and vocations unknown to your village or will you learn only from your elders knowledge past down through the generations teaching you how to subsist by keeping livestock, fishing, cultivation, gathering wild foods and herbs and making petitions to the mysterious god NGO?

Will you marry?
Will you find a way to accumulate the bride price of 10 cows and 24 goats? Will you learn about other models of marital relationships or will you learn that your masculinity divines you the right to the family assets, including your wife, who will be responsible for providing food, water, firewood and comfort for you and your children?

Will you learn how to be a peacemaker?
Or, will you learn from your elders that your enemies are the Dinka, the Nuer and the Jalaaba and that your responsibility is to avenge the wrongs done to your ancestors when your eyes see the opportunity?

Baby Mogo, what will your eyes see?

- - -

A prayer for the janjaweed rape babies



Click here to read:  A prayer for the janjaweed rape babies (from Sudan Watch archives, November 27, 2004)