SUDAN’S paramilitary forces and allied militias have raped “scores” of women and girls, including while keeping them as sex slaves, in South Kordofan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed today.

The group interviewed 93 people in the region, who said that members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied military members were in uniform during attacks.

Some survivors said they knew the men by name from the community and witnesses said at least 14 people were raped in their own homes.

A 35-year-old ethnic Nuba woman said that six RSF fighters in beige uniforms stormed into her family compound, with one man saying: “You Nuba, today is your day.”

The men then gang-raped her.

“My husband and my son tried to defend me, so one of the RSF fighters shot and killed them,” she said. “Then they kept raping me, all six of them.”

Another survivor, aged 18, said she was taken with 17 others to a base where they joined 33 detained women and girls and were raped and beaten daily for three months.

HRW associate crisis and conflict director Belkis Wille said: “This research highlights what we have been hearing for some time now about the magnitude of sexual violence in Sudan.

“Yet so far, Sudanese victims have barely had access to services, let alone redress or meaningful efforts to stop these horrific crimes.

“United Nations and African Union member states should urgently act to assist survivors, protect other women and girls and ensure justice for these heinous crimes.”

At least 38 people died over the weekend after the RSF attacked the city of el-Fasher, volunteers said on Sunday.

The Local Resistance Committee said that the group targeted the centre of the capital of North Darfur with “four high-explosive missiles.”