In Sudan, victims of sexual violence are often forced to suffer in silence, their tears shed where no one can hear them. But for women like Mariam*, the horror of war followed her even as she tried to flee.

Attempting to escape from Gezira State to Khartoum early last year, Mariam’s vehicle was stopped by armed men. She was the only passenger singled out.

“We were coming from Gezira State… They stopped us on the street and forced us down,” Mariam told Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Asma Mohammed.

“They said they wanted to search us. Two of them consulted with each other, then called me over,” she recounted, her voice trembling. “They took me to a place… It was an empty room with a mattress. They told me to lie down, and then they raped me.”

Mariam returned to her family in the waiting car, shattered.

“She told us immediately what happened… How many of them there were,” her aunt told Al Jazeera. “Of course, they were from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”

‘Is there a girl in this house?’

Mariam’s story is not unique. In el-Fasher, the tragedy repeats itself with even greater brutality.

Um Kulthum*, a medical student, told Al Jazeera she was forced to witness mass rape and murder before becoming a victim herself.

“The RSF forces entered … and besieged the area,” Um Kulthum said. “They killed my uncle, the one who raised me … right in front of us.

“We were four girls, along with our neighbour’s daughter. The RSF forces then gang-raped us in a brutal manner.”

These exclusive accounts align with a harrowing new report released last November by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), which documented nearly 1,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence across 14 states since the war began in April 2023.

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Speaking to Al Jazeera in November, Hala Al-Karib, the regional director of SIHA, explained that these are not random acts, but a strategy rooted in viewing women as “property”.

“Kidnappings often occur at the beginning of an invasion… When homes are entered, there is a specific question asked: ‘Is there a girl in this house? Are there young women?’” Al-Karib said.

“We have heard from many witnesses who were told by RSF soldiers: ‘I am coming to take this girl.’”

Sexual slavery and trafficking

The violence extends beyond immediate assault to long-term captivity. Al-Karib described a terrifying reality of “sexual slavery” and forced labour.

“Women are kidnapped for ‘sexual slavery’, specifically young, middle-aged women, and also to serve the soldiers – forced labour, washing clothes, cooking,” Al-Karib told Al Jazeera.

Even more disturbingly, she revealed that the exploitation has crossed international lines.

“Women are also kidnapped for the purpose of enslavement and sale in markets,” Al-Karib said. “They are transported across the border to African countries neighbouring Sudan.”

She added that women’s bodies are being used “as weapons in this war … to defeat communities”, leaving survivors crushed by stigma and often refusing to return to their families out of shame.

Punishing the Masalit

The systematic nature of these crimes was further confirmed by Arnold Tsunga, a lawyer and former Africa director for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), who led a fact-finding mission to eastern Chad to interview refugees fleeing the violence.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic from Harare, Tsunga described his mission to Adre and Geneina as “heartbreaking”.

“The RSF are the ones who attacked the Masalit group… They were the majority of those subjected to sexual violence and rape,” Tsunga said.

“It is sad to see that violence is now being used systematically as a means and weapon of war … to forcibly remove people from their land and to punish Masalit men who tried to defend their land.”

Tsunga warned that the collapse of the rule of law has created an “absolute environment” for these crimes.

“The RSF are now the responsible authority in these areas… There are no justice institutions working,” he explained. “Impunity leads to more impunity … and this problem is related to rewarding criminals.”

Targeting infants

The scale of the violence has overwhelmed local hospitals. At the Omdurman Maternity Hospital, the director general described a pattern of atrocities that spares no one – not even babies.

“The rapes are in very large numbers, far more than what is recorded,” Imad al-Din Abdullah al-Siddiq told Al Jazeera.

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“More than 14 female infants less than the age of two were raped. An infant! This is documented by NGOs,” he said.

Al-Siddiq noted that the hospital received a flood of victims aged 11 to 23, mostly unmarried girls. “They come as a result of pregnancy… Abortions were performed for those less than three months… For those more than three months, we didn’t have a licence to abort, so the pregnancy continued, and births took place here.”

UNICEF has confirmed more than 200 cases of sexual assault on children since the start of 2024, some less than the age of five.

A systematic pattern

The SIHA report outlines a calculated three-stage pattern accompanying RSF advances: Initial home invasions and looting accompanied by rape, followed by attacks in public spaces, and finally long-term detention.

This violence occurs against a backdrop of worsening famine. The United Nations’ World Food Programme warned it will cut rations in Sudan from January due to severe funding gaps, leaving millions at risk of starvation.

Meanwhile, international pressure is mounting. The United Kingdom recently sanctioned four senior RSF commanders over alleged mass killings and sexual violence.

But for survivors like Mariam and Um Kulthum, the diplomatic moves offer little solace. As Al-Karib noted, the international investment in reintegrating these women remains “very, very small”.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of survivors.