Women in Geneina in Sudan’s West Darfur state are saying that they have been sexually assaulted by militants linked to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) because of their ethnicity, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reports.
The RSF has been fighting Sudan’s army in the country’s 11-month civil war that has left a humanitarian disaster in its wake.
It began in the capital, Khartoum, but spread across the country, including to Darfur in an echo of the conflict there two decades ago.
The sexual assaults began in Geneina after an army garrison there was overrun in November.
Most of those raped were from the Masalit community, reporter Zeinab Mohammed Salih says.
She describes them as a darker-skinned ethnic African tribe.
The perpetrators are alleged to be Arab fighters but traditional leaders deny this, the Guardian says.
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