RSF fighters accused of raping South Sudanese women

Elements of the Sudanese paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, commonly known as Himedti, have been accused of raping a 30-year-old South Sudanese woman in an area located between the state of Eastern Darfur and South Sudan. The northern state of Bahr el Ghazal in Sudan.

The incident is said to have taken place in the Rigebat habitat in the Bahr el Arab locality in the East Darfur state of Sudan, where the Rizeigat community and they border the Dinka Malual living in the northern Bahr el Ghazal state of South Sudan live.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Dinka Malual Joint Border Peace Committee chairman Anguei Noon Atak confirmed that the South Sudanese woman was raped and stabbed by RSF fighters over the weekend.

“The new development along the shared border this week is that a South Sudanese woman in her 30s, living on the northern bank of Kiir Adem in an area called Rigebat, was raped and stabbed by RSF fighters. I have informed the administrator of Kiir Adem Payam to find ways to refer her to Gokmachar where she can access free healthcare services,” he said. “The perpetrators who attacked and abused the woman who sells tea but also brews alcohol have not been arrested. As the Joint Border Peace Committee, we are shocked by such reports and are preparing our delegation for on-site investigations as nothing like this has happened since last year and justice must be served.”

A Sudanese man from the Rezeigat tribe who said he was not authorized to speak to the media refuted the information, saying he had just arrived from the area where the alleged crime took place and that there was no rape or different case.

“This is my arrival from the area, but I have not heard the news,” he stated. “The area is safe and there is no problem at all because I communicated with them in the morning.”

Meanwhile, Border Peace Committee member Makuei Geng said he was irritated by the development and that the Rezeigat should continue to maintain cordial relations with Dinka Malual as the ongoing war in Sudan has devastated the tribe.

“I don’t know why such things happen and even though these people (Rizeigat) have problems in their area, they still commit crimes against the Dinka Malual, which is wrong,” he said.