Tawila, February 23 (Darfur24)
Medical sources revealed on Sunday that more than 400 women, including minors, were subjected to sexual assault during their journey of displacement from El Fasher to Tawila in North Darfur.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled El Fasher after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the city late October, a takeover accompanied by widespread human rights abuses that a UN report described as amounting to genocide.
Doctors told Darfur24 that hospitals in Tawila documented at least 488 cases of sexual violence against women as they fled El Fasher during the RSF incursion into the city late October.
A medical source at Tawila Hospital confirmed to Darfur24 that the documented cases of sexual violence exceeded 400, including rape, gang rape, and torture, targeting females, some of whom were minors.
In this context, a counselor working with a psychological support team at a human rights organization revealed to Darfur24 that Tawila is sheltering hundreds of survivors of sexual violence from El Fasher.
The counselor stated that medical reports and testimonies from victims confirmed widespread and serious violations against women and girls, adding that t dozens of pregnancies among minors, necessitating increased medical care.
She explained that some assistance is being provided to the victims by UNICEF partners, but it is insufficient given the scale of the violations they have endured.
The counselor pointed out that entire families have been subjected to rape and gang rape, exacerbating the victims’ suffering and hindering their recovery.
The Tawila area, which falls under jurisdiction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, is one of the areas in Sudan that has received the largest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), estimated at approximately 665,000, most of whom are from El Fasher.
In a report issued on February 19, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission stated that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a coordinated campaign of destruction against non-IDP communities. The situation in El Fasher and its surrounding areas bears the hallmarks of genocide.
On February 13, the UN Human Rights Office reported that it had documented the killing of more than 6,000 people during the first three days of the Rapid Support Forces’ attack on El Fasher, in addition to 4,400 others killed during the same period, and more than 1,600 people killed while trying to flee the city of Elfashir.