Warning: Some of di details for dis story fit make you vex
Afta 17 months of brutal civil war wey don scata di kontri, di army don launch one major offensive for di capital Khartoum.
Di strike target areas wey dey di hands of dia bitter rival, di paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Di RSF bin seize most of Khartoum wen di kasala bin start, while di army control di twin city of Omdurman, wey dey across River Nile.
But places still dey wey pipo fit cross between di two sides.
For one of di points, I meet a group of women wey don waka for four hours to go market for one army-controlled territory near di edge of Omdurman, wia food dey cheap.
Di women waka come from Dar es Salaam, one area wey di RSF dey hold.
Dia husbands no dey comot from house again, na wetin dem tell me, dis na becos RSF fighters dey beat dem, collect dia money wey dem work for, or detain dem and demand payment to release dem.
“We dey endure dis hardship becos we wan feed our children. We dey hungry, we need food,” one of di women tok.
- ‘Ova 12 million pipo dey starve’ for war-hit Sudan – WHO
- ‘We no get future’ – Sudanese women wey dey run from war tok
- Why dangerous journey to Europe through Sahara Desert dey Ahmed eye despite im mama advice
And di women, I ask, if dem dey safer dan di men? What about rape?
Di chorus of voices died down.
Den one begin para as she dey tok.
“Wia di world dey? Why you no fit help us?” she tok, her words just dey come out with force as tears begin fall down from her eyes.
“Plenti women dey hia wey dem don violate, but dem no fit tok about am. Which difference e go make anyway?”
“Some girls, di RSF make dem lie in di streets for night,” she kontinu to tok. “If dem come back late from dis market, di RSF go keep dem for five or six days.”
As she dey tok her mother sidon wit her head for her hand, dey cry. Oda women wey dey around start to cry.
“You for your world, if your pikin go outside, you go fit leave her?” she ask. “You no go look for her? But tell us, wetin we go do? Notin dey our hands, nobodi care about us. Wia di world dey? Why you no fit help us!”
Di crossing point na di window into a world of desperation and despair.
Travellers say dem dey subjected to lawlessness, looting and brutality for di kasala wey di UN say don force more dan 10.5 million pipo to run comot from dia homes.
But na di sexual violence wey don bicom a defining characteristic of di kasala wey don tey well-well.
Di Sudan katakata bin start as power struggle between di army and di RSF but local armed groups and fighters from neigbouring kontris don chook bodi inside since.
Di United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, bin tok say dem dey use rape as “a weapon of war”.
One recent UN fact-finding mission bin document plenty cases of rape and rape threats from members of di army, but dem find out say RSF and dia allied militias dey commit large-scale sexual violence wey don amount to violations of international law.
One woman wey di BBC tok to blame di RSF for raping her.
We meet her for di market for di crossing, wey dem dey call Souk al-Har – di Heat Market.
Since di war war start di market don expand across di barren land for di desert road out of Omdurman. E dey attract di poorest of di poor with di low prices.
Miriam, wey no be her real name, bin run from her home for Dar es Salaam to hide for her brother place.
She dey work for one tea store now. But early in di war, she say two armed men bin enta her house and try to rape her daughters – one dey 17 years old and di oda one dey 10 years.
“I tell di girls to stay for my back and I tell di RSF: ‘If you wan rape anyone, e gatz be me” she tok.
“Dem hit me and order me to remove my clothes. Bifor I remove my clothes, I tell my girls to comot. Dem carry my oda children and jump over di fence. Den one of di men sleep wit me.”
Di RSF bin tell di international investigators say dem don take all necessary measures to prevent sexual violence and oda forms of violence wey constitute human rights violations.
But di accounts of sexual assault dey plenti and e dey consistent, and di damage get a lasting impact.
Sitting ontop chair na Fatima, no be her real name – she tell me say bin come to Omdurman to deliver twins, and plan to stay.
One of her neighbours, according to her, wey be 15-year-old girl, bin also get belle (pregnant), afta four RSF sojas rape she and her sister wey dey 17-years.
Na dia screams wake pipo wey bin come out to see wetin dey happun, she tok, but di armed men tell dem say dem go shot if dem no go back into dia houses.
Di next morning, dem see di two girls with signs of abuse for dia bodi, and dia elder brother wey dem lock inside one of di rooms.
“During di war, since di RSF come, immediately we start to hear of rapes, until we see am in front of us as e happun to our neighbours,” Fatima tok.
“Initially we bin no believe di reports but we know say na di RSF wey rape di girls.”
Di oda women dey gada to start to trek back to dia home wey be areas wia RSF dey control – dem say dem dey too poor, to start a new life like Miriam wey comot from Dar es Salaam.
For as long as dis war go kontinu, dem no get any choice but to return to dis horrors.
- Sudan war: ‘I dey fear say di fighting go continue for years’
- Hunger, killings and rape: For frontline of di world ‘hidden’ war
- Inside di secret world of ‘spiritual healers’ wey dey sexually abuse women
