Children Without Guilt: Sudanese Women Break the Silence and Keep Their Rape Babies

In the heart of the Sudanese tragedy, stories of women like Nesma, 26, emerge. She decided to keep her child, Yasser, despite him being the product of a horrific gang rape. Nesma recounts how Rapid Support Forces fighters intercepted her bus in Khartoum North, separating women from men and brutally assaulting them, leaving her unconscious until the next morning.

Yasser is one of thousands of children born in similar circumstances during the three years of war that tore Sudan apart. International reports confirm that rape was not merely individual incidents but was used as a systematic tool for domination, destroying the social fabric, and altering the demographic composition in conflict areas, especially in the capital and Darfur region.

Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, described these practices as amounting to 'genocide.' She explained that the goal of these crimes is to break the will of local communities and humiliate them by directly and repeatedly targeting the bodies of women and girls.

In the town of Tawila in Darfur, Hayat (20 years old) is experiencing a similar ordeal after being assaulted while fleeing the Zamzam displacement camp. Hayat, cradling her infant, says she wishes him a better future away from the ravages of war she experienced, emphasizing the right of these children to a dignified life despite the harsh circumstances surrounding their arrival.

Salima Ishaq Al-Khalifa, Minister of State for Social Affairs, indicates that the announced figures do not reflect the true horror of the situation. Most victims prefer to remain silent for fear of the 'stigma' imposed by conservative society, leading to a lack of official documentation for a large number of births or unsafe abortions.

For her part, Denise Brown, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, revealed the presence of hundreds of pregnant girls in one town in Darfur as a result of rape. Brown expressed deep concern that these girls are not seeking medical attention, which exposes their lives and the lives of their fetuses to severe health and psychological risks.

Mothers who chose to keep their children face 'double injustice' from their families and the surrounding community. In many cases, women were ostracized or divorced, while others were forced to raise their children in secret to avoid accusations of complicity with the attacking forces or social marginalization.

The history of sexual violence in Darfur is repeating itself, with current testimonies recalling what the Janjaweed militias committed in the first decade of the third millennium. Today, human rights sources accuse the Rapid Support Forces of using the same tactics against non-Arab ethnic minorities, using the female body as a battleground for settling political and ethnic scores.

Haleema, a 23-year-old woman, recounts the tragedy of being raped three times at different points in her life and displacement. Despite the harshness of her experience, she was able to obtain emergency contraception from Doctors Without Borders the last time, saving her from a third unwanted pregnancy.

In Al Jazirah state, local sources reported that some families completely abandoned their villages to escape the psychological and social trauma associated with rape. Some girls resorted to dangerous abortion attempts using unsupervised medications, which in many cases led to severe bleeding and complications that threatened their lives.

The Sudanese government tried to intervene by easing restrictions on abortion in areas where the army regained control, but ignorance of these decisions and fear of social persecution prevented many from benefiting. Bureaucratic procedures in the civil registry remain an obstacle to these children obtaining official birth certificates.

In Khartoum, Faihaa (30 years old) recounts her suffering with her five-month-old child, feeling a mixture of anger and motherhood towards him. Faihaa says she has to play the role of both father and mother, while memories of the assault by a man in civilian clothes under the protection of a soldier in military uniform haunt her.

UN reports indicate that sexual violence is not limited to one party, although the practices of the Rapid Support Forces appear to be more systematic and widespread. The absence of accountability and oversight within military institutions gives some individuals a sense of impunity, leading to sporadic violations that increase the suffering of civilians.

While the government tries to find alternative families for abandoned children, mothers like Nesma insist on facing the future alone. Nesma refuses to abandon her son Yasser and plans to use her university degree to secure a job that will ensure him a decent life, emphasizing that her child deserves love and care away from his father's crimes.

My son is not guilty, just as it is not my fault. What is his fault that he should not know his mother? I refused for him to suffer childhood traumas or end up in a bad place.