Amid Demands for a Public Apology and Condemnations, ‘Taqadum’ Casts Doubt on the Sexual Violence Crimes of the RSF

“Taqadum” continues its relentless defence against any violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia against innocent Sudanese citizens. It does this sometimes by stating that it cannot declare any condemnation of the massacres committed by the militia in Khartoum, Gezira, and the four states of Darfur under RSF’s control. It turns a blind eye to RSF’s crimes of ethnic cleansing committed in the city of Genaina, arguing that it cannot offer any condemnation of the RSF rebels without investigating to prove it and that it – ‘Taqadum’ – is not a competent investigative body in this matter. Taqadum forgets or ignores all the international and local reports that prove the militia’s extensive involvement in these violations.

Not content with that, ‘Taqadum’ went further, casting doubt on the sexual violence crimes committed by the militia against women, girls, men, and boys, justifying this by the absence of resistance effects, the lack of medical reports and clinical examinations, and a reputation for bad conduct, and that sexual contact may have occurred with the consent of women and girls in some cases.

Relentless defence
Taqadum’s relentless defence and justification of the crimes of the RSF militia raise many questions. What does ‘Taqadum’ want? Does it want to save the rebellion and reintegrate it back into the political equation in the country? This defence may be understood as reintegrating the RSF rebels means a return of Taqadum with all its visions and positions on the crisis, but did ‘Taqadum’ consider that these positions go against the will of the Sudanese people who have been displaced, killed, and their women raped? How can Taqadum and its followers return to the scene on the ruins of this ‘ugly’ image?

Almohagig tried to shed light on the issue of sexual violence against women and girls in Sudan’s war, the motives behind it, and why ‘Taqadum’ persists in defending the militia whose crimes have been documented by experts in this field.

Defining a position
Amid all this defence by ‘Taqadum’, more than a hundred feminist organisations, activists, and civil society actors, members of the Democratic Civil Forces Alliance, demanded that ‘Taqadum’ clarify its position on the sexual violence crimes committed by the RSF militia in Khartoum, Gezira, the four states of Darfur, and Kordofan.
In a letter sent to the former Prime Minister, Abdullah Hamdok, the head of Taqadum, the feminist organisations and Sudanese activists demanded that Taqadum clarify its position on the crimes of sexual violence committed against women, girls, men, and boys in Sudan by the RSF militia. The signatories pointed out that more than 90% of rape cases have been proven to occur in areas under the control of the RSF. In comparison, 80% of documented incidents have been confirmed to have been committed by its members in Khartoum and the four Darfur states, East Kordofan, some areas of South Kordofan, and the state of Al-Jazeera.

Exaggerated crimes
The demand follows a statement made by Alaa al-Din Nugud, one of the speakers on behalf of the Taqadum, in a discussion on the ‘Taqadum’ WhatsApp group, in which he doubted the sexual violence crimes committed against women, girls, men, and boys, according to the letter, Alaa criticised that these crimes are exaggerated and that sexual contact may have occurred with the consent of women and girls in some cases, attributing this to the absence of resistance effects, and continued by pointing out the lack of medical reports, clinical examinations, and a reputation for bad conduct.
According to the letter, the law requires victims to file an official report to the authorities in case of rape, and feminists in the Sudanese movement and the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate and human rights activists have long demanded its abolition.

The letter stated that the purpose of these legal defences is to justify the heinous violations and crimes of the RSF militia, which contradicts documented reports and testimonies of victims and witnesses confirming that sexual violence crimes are spreading horrifyingly in areas controlled by the militia.
The signatories pointed out that the statements of the official spokesperson for the ‘Taqadum’ directly question local observers, working organizations, and volunteers on the ground, who represent the only refuge for survivors to provide aid and assistance at present. They added that it is painful that some of the forces that participated in the glorious December revolution placed themselves in such a flawed position.
The feminist groups in the Democratic Civil Forces Alliance demanded that ‘Taqadum’ clarify its position on sexual violence crimes and violations committed amidst this war and issue a public apology to the victims and survivors for what was stated by the official spokesperson.

By the Militia
Thuria Ibrahim, a Sudanese social researcher, explained that sexual violence is a tool and weapon in war. She told ‘Al-Muhakik’ that sexual violence takes many forms, including rape and harassment, with rape explicitly being used as a weapon in battle and can be used against men as well. She added that in the war in Sudan, rape is committed against women and girls, which is the most dangerous, noting that the Anti-Violence Against Women Unit has stated that a large number of women have been raped by members of the RSF militia, according to documented cases.
She continued that there are large numbers of women who have been abducted and deported from Khartoum and detained in areas in Darfur and that there are those who have been released but whose families do not want to talk about them or what happened to their daughters. This leads us to what is known as ‘social stigma and shame’, which forces families to remain silent. There is fear from society to disclose what happened, indicating that this threatens specialised entities such as the Family Protection Unit and the Women and Child Protection Unit, among others, and that this prevents them from functioning. She added that despite the presence of organisations working in this field extensively, social stigma remains a solid barrier to clear information dissemination and accurate statistics.

The numbers are higher
Thuria Ibrahim continued: “It is true that there are statistics, but the numbers are much higher than the available statistics, and this is a big problem,” explaining that the presence and operation of mechanisms in this war is a very complex issue and that this makes the entities working to protect women and children unable to reach or accurately monitor this category, and unable to provide what is needed for them after the violation that occurred.
She pointed out that there are a large number of girls under the age of 18 who have also been raped, which is very unfortunate and shocking, confirming that the challenges in reaching these women and girls are many and very complex and that there must be solutions to the victims’ situations, whether by providing treatment or protection, adding: “We are talking about the lack of safe paths, and this is the biggest challenge in this matter, especially since the state of Al-Jazeera has a huge number of violations and assaults against women.”

An international crime
Dr. Sulyma Is’haq, the head of the Anti-Violence Against Women Unit, confirmed that Sudanese women have paid a high price for this war in terms of their security and safety. She told ‘Al-Muhakik’ that this high price was explicitly on the issue of sexual violence, which is entirely different from any violence in peacetime, adding that sexual violence associated with conflict, classified by the United Nations as an international crime and a war crime, has a different description that includes many forms of sexual violence, harassment, rape, detention, sexual slavery, abduction, and trafficking.
She added that it is unfortunate that Sudanese women have experienced all these forms, explaining that most of the perpetrators are from the RSF and that the areas under its control are where women have been subjected to sexual violence associated with conflict.
She affirmed that it was systematic violence, saying that most of it occurred inside homes and that women took precautionary measures by staying inside their homes, even if there was a risk of falling debris, shells, or bullets, in the hope of protecting themselves from any physical or sexual assaults. However, on the contrary, there were home invasions, rape, and humiliation. This issue took a different dimension from anything else because there were other issues of detention and abduction of girls in neighbourhoods with popular solidarity. They see that this issue is significant, explaining that the RSF are the ones who kidnap, and they are not the only ones, but they have the highest percentage in various forms other than trafficking and others. She explained that all sexual violence in Darfur was by the RSF and that more than 98% of all sexual violence incidents that have occurred and are still happening in Khartoum are also committed by the RSF

Ethical collapse
Sulyma stated that in Al-Jazira, this is a topic that is kept silent about and that the collapse of the health system has made reporting seem impossible because reporting or the number of cases and information about them are part of the services provided to women, including clinical treatment and rape. She pointed out that the health system’s collapse in Khartoum made people unaware of where to go, saying, ‘We used to transfer cases to Al-Jazira for them to receive better services when the state was stable before the rebels entered. After the fall of Khartoum, things became impossible there, and we did not know what was happening around us,’ confirming that the allegations that the RSF committed sexual violence are exaggerated and represent a moral collapse for those who claim that.
She added, ‘Sexual violence has always gone through stages of denial, and the same people who are now denying it about the RSF used to say in the past that the state denied it about the RSF, and this was in their political agendas,’ explaining that there is now an opposing political agenda and that this is the actual moral collapse. She said that the issue of protecting women has become a subject of political debate, wondering about the claim that there is consent from women in these cases, asking, ‘What kind of consent is this during wartime?’ She added that these cases occurred under the threat of weapons, and no one went willingly at all, continuing, ‘If they believe that the official agencies and defenders are exaggerating this, then the United Nations has also acknowledged that there are women in chains seen in different areas who have been sold and enslaved.’ She wondered to what extent women’s bodies can be traded and brought into political discussions in an attempt to exonerate the RSF, pointing out that the RSF themselves document their crimes, so how can they deny these videos that have spread on social media? Or will they also deny international reports on this matter, expressing her embarrassment at these allegations, saying that although they condemned such actions during the days of the demonstrations because their political agenda suited this trend at the time? Now, they see that these crimes are exaggerated, confirming that this denial is nothing but an exoneration of the RSF and that those who claim this are outside Sudan. The moral collapse has taken them to this extent.

Continued and systematic
At the same time, the African Horn Women’s Network (SAIHA) said that sexual slavery, forced abduction, and enslavement have become tools of war and recruitment in Sudan and that crimes of violence against women continue continuously and systematically in the face of international and civil and political forces’ neglect. The network added that it had monitored a series of violations that occurred in South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains region, confirming the involvement of the RSF in those repeated events, which it described as systematic with the aim of displacement and eliminating the presence of farmers. SAIHA said in a report a few days ago titled ‘South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains: RSF continue to commit atrocities’ that at the end of last December, the RSF attacked the Heiban locality in South Kordofan. Villages such as Tarda, Tannal, Ta’a, Fio, Al-Zaltaya, and Qardoud Abu Al-Dhakir were subjected to a violent attack by the RSF militia, resulting in the killing of several citizens, children, and women, and the complete burning of the villages of Fio and Al-Zaltaya.

Women’s deprivation
The report added, ‘These events led to a sharp wave of displacement, with the number of displaced people reaching 8,949 displaced men and women, or 1,596 families, while the number of missing persons reached 52 people.’ According to local activists, girls were taken to the Al-Qoz locality, which is under the control of the RSF. The report considered that the kidnapping of women and girls in those areas is inseparable from the history of the heinous practices of the RSF, highlighting the comprehensive collapse in the health sector, which has deprived women and girls of receiving reproductive health and public health services, increasing the suffering of women who have been subjected to sexual violence.

Punishing the perpetrators
The report also criticised the international community, civil political forces, and parties for ignoring the violations against women, especially crimes of sexual violence. At the same time, the RSF continue to commit the most heinous offences, which have become systematic with the aim of displacement and eliminating the presence of farmers. The report emphasised that silence regarding those violations and the insistence on not holding the perpetrators accountable will inevitably lead to the continuation of the cycle of violence and further tearing of the Sudanese social fabric, betting on achieving peace by punishing the perpetrators.

Taqadum is implicated
Regarding Taqadum’s justifications for the sexual violence of the RSF in the war, Mohamed Mohamed Khair, a writer and political analyst, says that ‘Taqadum’ is a faction of the RSF. Khair added to ‘Al-Muhakik’ that ‘Taqadum’ resorts to these formal and convincing justifications, such as Ornique 8 and criminal procedures in this matter, but they forget the custom in Sudan that there is no Sudanese woman who falsely confesses to rape. Khair continued, ‘I feel ashamed in front of these justifications, and this shame is multiplied when one of the leaders of ‘Taqadum’ says it and is not convinced by it,’ explaining that ‘Taqadum’ has previously condemned these violations before the war without these justifications, confirming that this indicates their involvement and that they have nothing but arrogance and cover-up.’ He said, ‘Virginity in Sudanese women is not just about physical virginity, but a comprehensive behaviour that starts from their virginity in speech, conversation, and all human feelings, and we have a special feature in those feelings,’ attacking ‘Taqadum’ by saying, ‘Have they not heard of our poet saying that in the ‘pleasures’ of our prostitutes, there is virginity?’