The Dark History of Sexual Slavery in Sudan’s War
By Darius Spearman (africanelements)
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The devastating civil war in Sudan is entering its fourth year in June 2026. Once again, the United Nations has sounded a dark alarm on the ongoing violence (apnews.com, un.org). Conflict-related sexual violence remains one of the most defining features of this brutal war (apnews.com, un.org). A horrific investigation by the Associated Press exposed how women suffer in this conflict (apnews.com, apnews.com). Paramilitary fighters routinely abduct Sudanese women and hold them as sex slaves in remote desert camps (apnews.com). Captors subject these victims to extreme torture and starvation while demanding huge ransoms (apnews.com, apnews.com).
Families must pay up to ten thousand dollars to buy the freedom of their loved ones (apnews.com). Human rights organizations attribute the majority of these atrocities to the Rapid Support Forces (genocidewatch.com, apnews.com). They also implicate their allied Arab militias in these crimes (apnews.com). These horrific headlines represent more than a modern humanitarian emergency. They are part of a decades-long historical cycle of violence. This system of exploitation has deep roots in the Darfur genocide of the early 2000s (genocidewatch.com, ushmm.org).
The Janjaweed Legacy and the Rise of the RSF
To understand the atrocities today, one must examine the history of the Rapid Support Forces (genocidewatch.com). The group was officially formed in 2013 under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti (wikipedia.org). However, the roots of the group lie in the notorious Janjaweed militias (wikipedia.org, britannica.com). The dictatorial regime of President Omar al-Bashir armed these Arab militias during the Darfur genocide (wikipedia.org).
Between 2003 and 2005, the Janjaweed carried out systematic campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Darfur (genocidewatch.com, ushmm.org). They targeted non-Arab African communities, including the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups (genocidewatch.com, ushmm.org). Over three hundred thousand civilians were killed during this brutal campaign. After the war, Bashir institutionalized these fighters into the Rapid Support Forces (wikipedia.org). He used them as a private army to protect his regime from military coups (wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org).
Weaponized Rape as a Strategic Tool
During the Darfur genocide, sexual violence was a central military strategy rather than a random byproduct (ushmm.org, hrw.org). In 2005, a United Nations inquiry concluded that government-backed militias used rape systematically (ushmm.org). They used sexual violence to terrorize civilian populations and humiliate families (ushmm.org, hrw.org). This strategy forced non-Arab communities to abandon their fertile ancestral lands permanently (ushmm.org).
Historically, dominant groups have used sexual violence to assert racial and social dominance over marginalized populations. These practices echo the horrors of the global slave trade and systemic oppression of Black women. In Sudan, fighters abducted young women from displacement camps and held them for sexual abuse (hrw.org). This history of unchecked violence created a culture of absolute impunity. Consequently, the same commanders are using the same brutal tactics today.
Wartime Population at SGBV Risk
The Spark of 2023 and the Modern Conflict
After the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan attempted a fragile political transition (wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org). However, the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces seized power in a 2021 coup (wikipedia.org). Tensions over integrating the paramilitary group into the national army soon reached a boiling point. On April 15, 2023, full-scale civil war erupted between the two rival military factions (wikipedia.org).
As the war enters its fourth year, the violence has matched the horrors of the past (apnews.com, un.org). In late October 2025, the critical city of El-Fasher fell to the Rapid Support Forces (apnews.com). UN experts reported that the subsequent takeover bore the unmistakable hallmarks of genocide (apnews.com). Paramilitary forces executed thousands of civilians and carried out ethnically motivated gang rapes (apnews.com, hrw.org). These acts targeted the very same African ethnic groups persecuted twenty years ago (apnews.com).
The Economics of Human Exploitation
The modern conflict has seen a terrifying transformation in how sexual violence is used. Today, the paramilitary forces have turned sexual slavery into a highly organized business model (apnews.com). Fleeing women are routinely ambushed at various checkpoints across the country (apnews.com, apnews.com). Fighters separate women from men and strip them of all their personal belongings.
The captured women are transported to secret desert camps and looted warehouses (apnews.com). There, they face brutal gang rapes and forced labor (apnews.com, apnews.com). Under the threat of death, captors force these women to call their families for ransom (apnews.com). This dynamic mirrors historical patterns where captors exploited vulnerable families for profit. Throughout history, oppressed individuals had to develop creative survival strategies under slavery to preserve their families. In modern Sudan, families face the agonizing choice of finding thousands of dollars or losing their daughters.
The Systematic Abduction-to-Ransom Cycle
The Role of the Sudanese Diaspora
The extortion economy relies heavily on the resources of the Sudanese diaspora. Captors know that domestic families in Sudan are completely impoverished (apnews.com). Therefore, they target victims whose relatives live in Western nations or rich Gulf states. They force victims to scream during phone calls to maximize emotional terror (apnews.com).
Consequently, relatives in the United States and Europe must scramble to raise large sums of hard currency. They sell their properties, empty savings, and beg within their local communities. This systematic extortion drains the wealth of the global African diaspora. It forces immigrant families to act as the primary financial lifelines for capturing forces. The emotional trauma of these transactions leaves deep scars on families thousands of miles away.
International Impunity and the Failed Justice System
The recurrence of these atrocities is the direct result of systematic international inaction. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Omar al-Bashir and his top commanders (justiceinitiative.org). However, the court has no independent police force to execute these warrants (justiceinitiative.org, iccforum.com). It depends entirely on the voluntary cooperation of sovereign member states (justiceinitiative.org).
For decades, many African and Arab nations allowed Bashir to travel freely without fear of arrest. This lack of enforcement sent a clear message to Sudanese military commanders (genocidewatch.com). It demonstrated that the international community would not hold them accountable for crimes against humanity (genocidewatch.com). Many of these leaders now command the forces committing atrocities today (genocidewatch.com, apnews.com). Some of these survivors have shown resilience in building lives from slavery to PhD levels of achievement, but the struggle continues. Without real justice, international legal frameworks remain toothless.
External Funding: Who Arms the RSF?
The Rapid Support Forces do not operate in a vacuum. A network of wealthy foreign actors actively funds and arms their operations (apnews.com, nordsint.org). Credible international reports reveal that the United Arab Emirates provides substantial military support (apnews.com). They routinely smuggle weapons, drones, and ammunition to the paramilitary group through neighboring Chad (apnews.com).
This massive war machine is funded by the lucrative Sudanese gold trade (ocindex.net). The paramilitary group controls key gold mines in the Darfur region (ocindex.net). They smuggle this precious metal to markets in Dubai, where it is sold for hard currency (ocindex.net). Additionally, Russian mercenary networks have provided advanced military supplies and tactical training (apnews.com, nordsint.org). These external alliances allow the paramilitary forces to sustain their brutal campaign indefinitely.
The Gold-for-Weapons Network
Mined under RSF control in Darfur
Smuggled and traded for currency
UAE supplies shipped via Chad
The Sins of the State: SAF Abuses
While the paramilitary forces commit horrific sexual violence, the Sudanese Armed Forces are not innocent. The regular military has carried out widespread abuses against civilian populations (hrw.org, amnesty.org). They rely heavily on indiscriminate aerial bombings of populated urban areas (hrw.org, amnesty.org). Their unguided airstrikes frequently hit residential neighborhoods, crowded markets, and hospitals (hrw.org, amnesty.org).
Furthermore, the military-controlled government systematically blocks life-saving humanitarian aid (hrw.org, amnesty.org). They deny visas to aid workers and close border crossings to contested territories (hrw.org). This bureaucratic blockade weaponizes starvation against millions of innocent civilians (hrw.org). Both sides of this conflict are committing severe war crimes, showing total disregard for human life (amnesty.org). Consequently, Sudanese civilians are trapped between two ruthless military forces.
Silenced Screams: The Impact of Communications Blackouts
To hide their atrocities, the warring factions routinely implement total telecommunications blackouts (accessnow.org). They intentionally destroy fiber-optic cables and shut down mobile network towers (accessnow.org, article19.org). These blackouts create a deep information void across major cities and rural areas (accessnow.org). Consequently, local activists and journalists cannot document human rights abuses in real-time (accessnow.org, article19.org).
These shutdowns also prevent civilians from using digital banking applications (accessnow.org). Without mobile internet, families cannot receive financial support from their diaspora relatives (accessnow.org). This lack of cash prevents them from buying food or paying for safe evacuation routes (accessnow.org). Therefore, digital blockades are active weapons of war that isolate and endanger the population.
Conclusion
The terrifying accounts of sexual slavery and extortion in Sudan are not random crimes. They are the predictable outcome of decades of state-sponsored terror and deep systemic impunity. The international community failed to dismantle the Janjaweed networks twenty years ago (genocidewatch.com). Today, Sudanese women are paying the ultimate price for that failure.
Addressing this crisis requires more than symbolic statements from global leaders. The world must enforce strict arms embargoes and cut off the financial networks of these forces (apnews.com). International bodies must hold foreign backers accountable for fueling this deadly conflict (apnews.com). Without aggressive intervention, history will continue to repeat its darkest chapters on the bodies of Sudanese women.
About the Author
Darius Spearman is a professor of Black Studies at San Diego City College, where he has been teaching for over 20 years. He is the founder of African Elements, a media platform dedicated to providing educational resources on the history and culture of the African diaspora. Through his work, Spearman aims to empower and educate by bringing historical context to contemporary issues affecting the Black community.
