Naked, starved and raped several times for days. In the Sudanese civil war, sexual violence is not only a weapon, but also a horrific revenue model. Paramilitaries kidnap women and force them to call their families for ransom. Those who don’t pay disappear. “I considered taking my own life,” one survivor said.
Journalist at HLN
The horror began for a 38-year-old woman when she fled the besieged town of el-Fasher in Darfur in September. Her husband, a soldier, had been killed. Along the way, she was ambushed by fighters from the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Together with other women and teenage girls, she was stripped naked, tied up and taken to an abandoned desert village.
I considered ending my life
For two days they were raped several times by different men. “I considered ending my life,” the woman told the American news agency AP, crying. The women were then handed a telephone. The demand: call your family and buy your freedom, or you die.
Torture on the phone
The woman emptied her bank account, but the $200 wasn’t enough. She had to contact a cousin via Facebook. When he paid, the fighters casually called him back.
While the man hung on the line, the kidnappers pressed a metal object under the woman’s fingernails. She screamed in pain, a conscious torture to extract even more money. They only let her go after paying about $700.
They didn’t miss a single day… I still have nightmares about it
According to the United Nations, sexual violence is one of the defining features of the war in Sudan, which is now in its fourth year. Women are kept as sex slaves, demanding ransoms of up to $10,000.
Payment is not a guarantee
Even paying is no guarantee of freedom. A 30-year-old woman was kidnapped from a market in the capital Khartoum in 2024. Her family in the US paid a ransom of 1,250 dollars (1,070 euros), but the fighters still held her for two weeks. She had to cook, clean and was raped every night. “They didn’t miss a single day… I still have nightmares about it,” she testifies.
The ruthless tactics destroy entire families, who find themselves in debt and having to sell their houses, cars or gold to buy their daughters or sisters’ freedom. The women who stay behind because there is no money often disappear without a trace.
Forgotten war takes enormous toll
In the meantime, the situation in the country continues to escalate. According to estimates, the conflict between the RSF and the regular Sudanese army has already cost the lives of 200,000 people and displaced more than 11 million people.
The UN calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Meanwhile, the country is sliding into famine, and innocent civilians are paying the ultimate price.