Photo credit: UN Women
This article contains references to rape and sexual assault
Women and girls are bearing the brunt of Sudan’s nearly three-year-old civil war, facing widespread gender-based violence, displacement and deepening hunger as the conflict continues.
SBS News reports that Mariam (not her real name), an 18-year-old, has had her life forever changed as a result of the conflict.
Until recently, she had lived in the city of Al-Fashir, which had withstood an 18-month-long starvation siege by o,ne of the warring parties, the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
But last October, the militants stormed and captured the city, leading to widespread bloodshed and further displacement for thousands of families who had already fled neighbouring towns and villages in the western North Darfur region.
“We were living in Al-Fashir, which was difficult,” she recalled. “There was shelling and fighting. We girls went to the well in large numbers. Some people met us on our way to fetch water. There were many of them.
“They threatened us with weapons, insulted uus and beat us. About five men came to me, and one of them raped me. The other girls faced the same thing.”
As the violence in Al-Fashir intensified, Mariam and her mother were forced to flee their home, walking five days to reach safety.
Mariam and her mother are now staying in a displacement camp, where food , water and medicine are scarce. Mariam said the camp is so crowded that she and her family are forced to sleep out in the open with no shelter.
In a December report, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) network documented 1,294 confirmed cases of sexual and gender-based violence across 14 Sudanese states between 2023 and 2025.
It comes amid one of the most destructive conflicts in recent history, with the former United States envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, suggesting as many as 400.000 people may have been killed since the war began in April 2023, and the United Nations saying about 14 million people have been displaced from their homes.
Starvation has swept the North Darfur region. In September, a formal declaration of famine was made in Al-Fashir by the UN-backed integrated Food Security Phase Classification group. Two additional famine alerts were issued for neighbouring areas last week.
Mariam and her mother are just two of the women and girls supported by humanitarian organization Plan IInternational, which provides lifesaving food and dignity kits, as well as support for survivors of gender-based violence.
CEO of the humanitarian organization, Reena Ghelani, says stories like Mariam’s are part of a broad pattern of targeted attacks.
“The story unfortunately is way too common,” she says.
