Office of the Spokesperson and Media Directorate

The Republic of Sudan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Office of the Spokesperson and Media Directorate

Press Statement

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Sudan took note of the report issued on January 23rd 2024, by the Strategic Initiative for Women of the Horn of Africa Network (SIHA), a regional civil society organization, on the crimes of abduction of women and girls by the rebel terrorist militia.
The network reported 104 cases of abduction and forced disappearance of women and young girls since the Militia launched its war on the Sudanese state and People last April.
SIHA described a “concerning pattern” of significant increase of abduction and forced disappearance of women and girls whenever the Militia entered a new area.
According to SIHA’s report the victims are enslaved to cook and clean for the Militia elements. They face risks of sexual violence, taking into account that some of them are as young as 13 years old.
Abduction of women and girls takes place after threatening families who are sometimes accompanied by forced relocation of the families of the kidnapped women to hide the traces of the crime, the report pointed out. SIHA’s report corroborates the findings by 32 UN human rights experts and special rapporteurs on issues of protecting women and children and combating sexual violence made public in a joint press statement on 17th August 2023. The UN human rights experts and rapporteurs spoke of a brutal and widespread use of rape, sexual violence, and forced labour against women by the terrorist militia. According to them the Militia is detaining hundreds of women and subjecting them to sexual slavery.
It is known that the Militia recruits child fighters and detains several thousands of civilians in various locations using them as human shields or forced labour in inhumane detention conditions.
These practices resemble the modus operandi of the well-known terrorist groups, such as the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), Boko Haram, and ISIS.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Sudan, therefore, renews its call to the international community, including the international and regional organizations to treat the Militia the same way those terrorist groups are treated, for the Militia’s terrorist crimes are no less serious than those perpetrated by the LRA, Boko Haram and ISIS.
The Ministry, furthermore, urges human rights organizations to shed light on the atrocities committed by the terrorist militia, especially against women, children, displaced persons, and vulnerable groups. In this regard, the Ministry praises the decision of the Arab Lawyers Union to form a committee to investigate the crimes of the rebel militia.