Warplanes of the Sudanese army flew over the skies of the capital Khartoum on Thursday, while the sounds of ground anti-aircraft of the Rapid Support forces firing at it were heard.

Senior UN officials on Wednesday condemned the increase in violence, especially sexual, Against Women and girls in Sudan, where fighting has been going on for two and a half months.

 

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Edited by| Tony Wild

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

Sudan conflict news section  

 

Khartoum - July,6,2023

 

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This condemnation was issued in a joint statement signed by the heads of a number of UN agencies concerned with human rights, Refugees (UNHCR), children (UNICEF), Women (UN Women) and Health (who).

The UN officials said they were"shocked and condemn reports of increasing gender-based violence in Sudan, including conflict-related sexual violence, against women, displaced and refugee women".

"It is unacceptable that women and children in Sudan whose lives have been turned upside down by this conflict are being traumatized even more in this way," said UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths, adding that "what we are seeing is not only a humanitarian crisis, but a human crisis".

In turn, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk considered that "as a result of such cruelty and brutality, women have little or no access to medical and psychological support".

Since the beginning of the fighting, his agency has received "documented information about 21 conflict-related sexual violence incidents against at least 57 women and girls," according to the statement, which noted that in one case "at least 20 women were raped during the same attack," adding that due to the rarity of reporting on this type of attack due to "shame and fear of reprisals," the real number of cases is undoubtedly higher.

Before the conflict between the two generals vying for power began in April, "more than 3 million women and girls were vulnerable to gender-based violence, including from their partners," according to UN estimates.

The number is now estimated at 4.2 million, according to the statement, which stressed that this risk is high, especially among women and girls fleeing war.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that"our teams in the region describe the terrible plight of displaced women and girls when they flee Sudan".

"This appalling series of human rights violations must stop . There is an urgent need to help survivors and those at risk, but so far, funding is still far from being enough" with 2.8 million people displaced and refugees due to the conflict.

At a time when fighting is still raging in the areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum and other regions between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, a military source told Independent Arabia that "the Rapid Support forces tried to reach the area of the Corps of engineers and the medical weapon hospital more than once in the early days of the war and failed to do so," pointing out that those forces"do not besiege the medical weapon and do not have a presence on the perimeter of the hospital, and their closest presence is on the other side of the Nile near the presidential palace.

The military spokesman pointed out that"the army has deployed and placed a number of Fulcrum points from the medical weapon hospital through the area of Bant and engineers to Al-fitaihab, and on the other hand, ended the presence of the rebel forces (rapid support) in the area of Al-Morda and is now besieging the headquarters of radio and television where those forces are located.

"The Special Action Forces have been conducting qualitative operations for days in the city of Omdurman, all of which have been crowned with success, and the Rapid Support forces have switched from attacking some camps to defense, and have always been retreating, incurring significant losses in equipment and lives,"he added.

The military spokesman pointed out that former President Omar "Bashir, Bakri Hassan Saleh, Youssef Abdel Fattah and other leaders of the former regime are inside the medical weapon hospital and are receiving treatment under heavy guard from the army since before the start of the war.

Fierce battles broke out on Tuesday around Omdurman in the western part of the Sudanese capital, at a time when the army is trying to cut off supply routes through which the "Rapid Support" forces are trying to bring reinforcements to the city.

Witnesses said that the army launched air strikes and shelling with heavy artillery, while ground battles took place in several parts of Omdurman, and the "Rapid Support" Forces announced that they shot down a fighter jet, and there was no comment from the army so far.

The conflict between the army and the "Rapid Support" forces broke out on April 15, leading to daily battles in the capital, fueling ethnically motivated killings in the western Darfur region and threatening to drag Sudan into a long-term civil war.

The "Rapid Support" forces quickly took control of areas of the capital and summoned additional elements from Darfur and Kordofan as the conflict escalated and transported them across the bridges from Omdurman to Bahri and Khartoum, as these three areas together form the wider capital across the confluence of the Nile River.

Local residents said that the clashes in Omdurman were the most violent in weeks, and that the army was trying to gain ground, and also tried to repel an attack by the "Rapid Support" forces on a police base.

 

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