Women from Sudan’s South Kordofan state have been repeatedly raped and some held as sex slaves by fighters from the warring Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias, Human Rights Watch said in a report published on Monday.

The RSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has regularly denied accusations of systematic abuses during a 20-month-old war with Sudan’s army that has devastated the country and displaced more than 12 million people.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had documented 79 cases of rape of women and girls as young as seven. It said it had interviewed seven survivors, including one who said she was held with 50 other women and raped repeatedly over three months.

The report said fighters had targeted women from the Nuba group in the remote area that borders South Sudan, and that the attacks amounted to war crimes.

“Survivors described being gang raped, in front of their families or over prolonged periods of time, including while being held as sex slaves by RSF fighters,” Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, said.

Women described being chained together after attempting to escape and kept in “a pen-like setup with wires and tree branches”, the report said.

ACCUSATIONS

Most of the attacks had been reported since the RSF launched assaults on the town of Habila and other settlements on Dec. 31, 2023, the report added.

The army and the SPLM-N, a rebel group largely comprised of people from the Nuba ethnicity, control the rest of the state, which they have fought over for years.

Human Rights Watch quoted one Nuba woman describing how attackers referred to her ethnicity. “As they raped us, they said to each other, ‘These Nuba are our slaves, we can do anything we want,’” she was quoted as saying.

The RSF was accused last year of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing by the United States for a campaign of attacks against members of the Massalit group in West Darfur state. The RSF has denied widespread abuses, but said it would investigate individual soldiers.

Sudan’s army is also accused of war crimes by the United States and UN experts, who have said it has carried out indiscriminate airstrikes in RSF territory and blocked aid – charges dismissed by the army.

The war between the two forces broke out in April 2023 over disagreements on the integration of the two forces during a transition to democracy. The RSF swiftly seized about half of the country, but the army has made recent gains in the capital Khartoum and areas to the south.

-Reuters

The president-general of the African Football and Other Sports Supporters Union (AFFOSSU), Dr Rafiu Oladipo has sent a condolence message to the Guinea Football Federation over the crush that occurred during a local football match earlier in the week.

At least 100 people were reportedly killed in a crush at a football match in Guinea’s second-largest city, Nzérékoré.

That death toll is disputed by many in the country, who believe the true number of dead is closer to 100.

Some reports indicate that events unravelled following a decision by the referee, who sent off two players from the visiting team, Labé, and awarded a controversial penalty kick.

In the message, Dr Oladipo the head of AFFOSSU remarked: “I hereby send my condolences on behalf of all sports supporters of Africa tithe Guinea Football Federation over the sad incidence. May the Souls of those who died during the collapse, rest in perfect peace.

AFFOSSU , the continental supporters club body, was formally recognised by CAF at a ceremony at Alisa Hotel North Ridge in Accra, Ghana in 2008.

Some 135 people were killed in a crush at a soccer stadium in southeast Guinea on Sunday, a local group of human rights organisations said, sharing an estimated death toll more than twice as high as the official toll of 56.

A controversial refereeing decision sparked crowd violence and tear gas volleys from police during the match in the town of Nzerekore, leading to a deadly scrum as spectators tried to flee.

A collective of human rights groups in Nzerekore region said on Tuesday its higher estimate was based on information from the hospital, cemeteries, witnesses at the stadium, families of victims, mosques, churches, and the local press.

“We now estimate 135 people died at the stadium, mostly children under the age of 18,” it said in a statement, adding that over 50 people were still missing.

The group blamed security forces for using excessive tear gas and prioritising the protection of officials over spectators.

It also said vehicles carrying officials and others escaping the stadium had struck spectators as they tried to flee what it described as an overcrowded venue whose gate was being obstructed by security forces.

It said it held the tournament organisers responsible as well as Guinea’s ruling junta, as they provided technical and financial support for the event honouring military leader Mamady Doumbouya.

The government, which promised on Monday to launch an investigation, has not responded to the group’s statement.

-Reuters