Regional group sounds alarm over surge in women-enforced disappearances in Sudan

January 28, 2024 (KAMPALA) – Siha Network, a regional group for women’s human rights, has raised the alarm over the alarming increase in enforced disappearances of women and girls in Sudan following the outbreak of conflict last April, particularly in areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In a recent statement, Siha Network revealed that over 104 cases of missing women and girls were reported on social media earlier this week. This alarming statistic, when coupled with the Sudanese Group for Victims of Enforced Disappearance’s report of 48 forcibly disappeared women and girls since April 2023, paints a deeply concerning picture of the plight of these vulnerable individuals in Sudan.

Siha Network’s statement draws attention to a disturbing pattern: a significant increase in disappearances coincides with the presence of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a particular area. This correlation raises severe concerns about the potential involvement of the paramilitary forces in these disappearances.

The Sudanese foreign ministry, in a statement, echoed the findings of Siha Network, citing a report issued last August 17 by thirty-two human rights experts and United Nations special rapporteurs on issues of protecting women and children and combating sexual violence. The report alerted to the brutal and widespread use of rape, sexual violence, and forced labour against women by the RSF elements, similar to the tactics used by terrorist groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), Boko Haram, and ISIS.

The foreign ministry called on the international community and international and regional organizations to treat the RSF in the same way as these terrorist groups, as their practices are “no less terrorist in their nature.”

In response, the RSF dismissed the allegations, claiming to be committed to international and humanitarian law and to closely monitor the behaviour of their personnel, strictly prohibiting all forms of abuse. The statement further recalled that the paramilitary group established the Field Committee on Negative Acts of Violence to prosecute offenders.

The RSF also accused Siha Network of “disseminating a false narrative,” likening the organization to other groups that have been “established by the former” to tarnish the group’s reputation.

Siha Network, established in the mid-1990s by women activists from Ethiopia, Somaliland, and Sudan, is a well-known group for its activities in favour of women’s rights in the Horn of Africa.

In a post on social media, Siha Network’s Regional Director Hala Al-Karib condemned the “criminal Rapid Support mercenary gangs that destroyed Sudan, killed more than 15,000 civilians, raped hundreds, plundered millions of homes, tore apart the social fabric, and plunged the country into a dark tunnel.”

Al-Karib also recalled her opposition to the Islamic laws implemented in 1983 by the military regime of former President Jaafar Numeiri after his alliance with the Islamists, her position against the Islamist regime immediately after the 1989 coup, and the alliance between the Islamist regime and the Darfur Arab militia known as Janjaweed, of which the RSF was part.

(ST)