Sytematische Vergewaltigen und Unterstützung von Wagner: Einsichten aus dem Krieg im Sudan

Wie schon vor zwanzig Jahren in Darfur vergewaltigen Milizen im Sudan systematisch Frauen. Die Wagner Truppe spielt in diesem Konflikt eine wichtige Rolle.

Über all diese berichtet in einer sehr lesenswerten Reportage CNN:

“What is not in doubt is Wagner’s role in this, it has been supplying the RSF with arms and supplies through Darfur,” one Western intelligence official told CNN.

“It follows Wagner’s modus operandi. Create chaos and seize power,” another intelligence source active in the region added.

A months-long CNN investigation uncovered an increase in Wagner supplies to the RSF that began in the run-up to Sudan’s conflict. Armaments appear to have been shuttled into Sudan through key transit points: Russia’s air and naval base in the Syrian coastal region of Latakia, Wagner bases in Libya, and Bangui airport in the Central African Republic.

The weapons were also transported into Sudan through overland routes, extending a robust relationship that predated the war, where the country’s military leadership, headed by General Burhan, granted Moscow large concessions in the country’s gold mining industry in exchange for weapons and political backing.

That quid pro quo helped finance Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine while entrenching Sudan’s military junta, especially Hemedti, who had a meteoric rise to power from a leader of the RSF’s previous incarnation, the Janjaweed.

The Janjaweed – or “devils on horseback” – was later absorbed into Sudan’s security forces. Former dictator Omar al-Bashir gave Hemedti a nickname: Hemayti, “my protector.”

Before Sudan’s current war erupted in mid-April, Hemedti was the second most powerful person in government. (...)

Reports of atrocities committed by RSF fighters and their allied militias, clearly identified by their uniforms, are consistent across dozens of testimonies. They include arbitrary killings, the wholesale destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, the looting of homes and hospitals, and even mass rapes.

“I saw the aftermath of torched internally displaced people (IDP) centers and witnessed the RSF raiding residences,” said Hussein Haran, a human rights activist who was in the Darfur city of el-Fasher when the fighting broke out before fleeing to Geneina, another city in the region, and then to Chad.

“Even the hospitals were looted. At Geneina’s research hospital, they stole the blood bank, and they spilled the blood all over the street,” Haran, who works at the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), told CNN.

“The only way I can explain this is that they didn’t want to leave a drop of blood for the ethnic Africans [who claim no Arab ancestry] being treated at the hospital. This is an ethnic cleansing project,” he added.

On Wednesday, the RSF abducted and executed West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar, according to the Sudanese military. The RSF denied responsibility for the killing, blaming “outlaws” without providing further detail.

Some claims are nearly impossible to verify during active fighting, but satellite imagery from the area paints a clear picture. At least three cities and 10 towns and villages in Darfur have been partially burned to the ground in the past month alone. (...)

“The strategy of raping women has been used extensively by the RSF,” said Hala al-Karib, regional director of women’s rights group SIHA. “The RSF have used it in Darfur to humiliate the indigenous Darfuri population for 20 years.

“The sad part is that they became very comfortable with it because they were never held accountable for it.”

Dozens of incidents of sexual assault, including gang rapes and the assault of female minors, have been confirmed by non-profit groups and experts since the start of the latest conflict. Most of these occurred in Darfur. The United Nations says it has received reports of sexual assault on humanitarian workers in the region.

In late May, the Sudanese government’s Combating Violence Against Women Unit recorded at least 36 cases of sexual assault in the Sudanese capital and 25 cases in Darfur, with 18 perpetrated by men in RSF uniforms.

But Sudanese activists claim that the assaults are much more widespread. In one case described by SIHA, 24 women and girls were abducted at the Daman hotel in south Darfur and repeatedly raped for three days. The oldest woman was 56 years old and the youngest was 14, according to SIHA.

Rapes are also being reported in the capital, where the RSF has repeatedly commandeered people’s homes, expelling the residents and looting their belongings, while combating air attacks by the Sudanese military.

In a video obtained and verified by CNN, one fighter is seen raping a woman in the front yard of a Khartoum home while another, wearing RSF uniform, stands outside keeping watch.