The Sudanese Army Scandal … “Sex in exchange for food”!!

Despite its extreme importance and high credibility, no one in Sudan needs a press report issued by a prestigious international newspaper such as the British “Guardian” to learn about the atrocious violations committed by the Sudanese Army. Everyone is well aware of their practices since the first war broke out in the South -currently South Sudan- in 1955, and the “Atla’ Barra” neighborhood in the capital of South Sudan bears witness to this day to the Sudanese Army’s violations and heinous crimes.

The “Guardian” journalist was able to reach (24) women, in the city of Omdurman -alone- which is a significant number, especially in such circumstances, where talking to the media poses a great risk. The women were exposed to sexual blackmail when sexual intercourse (rape) became the only way Army Commanders allowed them to obtain food or goods in areas controlled by the Army in the city of Omdurman.

The women who spoke to the “Guardian” admitted that they were forced to have sex in exchange for food, but there are numerous stories that haven’t been told in this context, and what took place is much more sinister and far more horrific.

I remember in the first months of the war, that Al-Kizan attributed these shameful and disgraceful acts to Malik Agar’s forces -paramilitary and allied with the Army- in an attempt to evade accountability for the Army soldiers’ heinous practices in Omdurman, starting with occupying homes and looting the contents or allowing thieves to do so for profit, as well as stealing citizens’ money, properties and mobile phones at gunpoint. This behavior is still prevalent among members of the Army and its officers in Omdurman.

In the newspaper’s report, a tragic story is told by one of the victims, that had no choice but to have sex with soldiers in order to be able to feed her elderly sickly parents and her 18-year-old daughter! Imagine how old this violated woman would be if her daughter is eighteen years old, nonetheless, these soldiers ar her child’s age, raped her in exchange for “bites” of food.

The pro-military Kizan media has spread among citizens that the Rapid Support Forces are the ones carrying out these shameful acts, and this hasn’t been proven. However, this report published by a reputable newspaper with strict professional rules and high credibility proved such acts are committed by the Army Forces.

In reality, the Army has been the perpetrator of these acts since its establishment and until now, it has continued to rape women, burn villages, displace its people, plunder their properties, and kill based on identity, before people knew about the Rapid Support Forces’ existence, which were established in 2013.

Therefore, a new Army must be established, an Army solely focused on protecting the citizen -an endeavor it has failed to accomplish in the most recent war- and protecting the constitution -a failed endeavor as well, due to the repeated coups. The Army leaders are mired in corruption, consumed with plundering of the State, which is a well known fact, and video recordings that proves the aforementioned claims are available on the internet.

The report also states that some women admitted that soldiers asked them for sexual intercourse in exchange for allowing them access to abandoned homes where items could still be looted to sell in local markets.

This means, without a doubt, that stealing the contents of homes, which in Al-Kizani media is always attributed to Rapid Support Forces personnel, is carried out by Army soldiers, or poor civilian women in order to sell them in the markets and obtain some money to buy food for their children. Hence, the Army soldiers who guard those abandoned houses -whose residents have been displaced- are allowing these women to loot in exchange for sexual favors.

One woman shared that after some soldiers took turns having sex with her, they allowed her to take food, kitchen equipment, and perfumes from abandoned homes. She added that she was ashamed of this behavior, but she was forced to endure it in order to survive.

Not only that, but some women who stopped providing sexual services to Army soldiers in exchange for food or allowing them to steal abandoned houses may have been subjected to torture and imprisonment. A 21-year-old woman said that she stopped stealing from abandoned houses in exchange for sex after her brothers pressured her and told her that they didn’t want the looted belongings, she was burned on her legs by these soldiers in retribution.

The Guardian’s report is the tip of the iceberg in regards to the Army’s sexual violations, thefts and highway robbery, stealing the citizens’ money and phones, looting the contents of abandoned homes directly or with the help of professional criminals, or even allowing women -after sexually exploiting them- to carry out such thefts.

It is no longer surprising, for its the Army of Al-Kizan. If the Commander-in-Chief, deputies, and assistants are corrupt, then what can we expect from its soldiers ?!