On December 15th, as the war completed 8 months, thousands of and dozens of WHRDs were forced to flee the city of Wad Madani south of Khartoum. RSF forces stormed the eastern part of the city on Friday, leading thousands of people to displacement, some of them for the second time. The city was the main refuge for thousands of people displaced by the war in Khartoum last April. Wad Madani has been playing an essential logistical role for the humanitarian response to the crisis in Khartoum and other states. Many INGOs, aid agencies and women groups relocated operation to the city in the last 6 months are forced to stop their work. The attack on Madani is expanding the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Sudan. Dozens of WHRDs who resided in the city are trapped inside or in the villages around Aljazeera.
RSF forces continued the patterns of looting houses and stores, while occupying civilians’ houses. These attacks on civilians led to horrific records of sexual violence in Khartoum. Women and girls in the areas controlled by RSF are at risk of SGBV, as the same scenario of houses occupations is surfacing in some areas of Aljazeera state and east of Madani city.
Women and girls who took refuge in hosting location in Aljazeera are facing difficult choices to either displace again or remain under the fire and possibility of RSF occupation. Dozens of WHRDs have been working from Aljazeera state since war started, they are in need of urgent relocation to safer place once again, as the war reached the closest safe city to Khartoum.
The attack on Madani will disturb the services provided in the city to survivors of SGBV coming from Khartoum, including survivors of rape who accesses medical care in the city. Women and girls in Khartoum who were planning to flee the violence there towards Aljazeera state, they will not be able to leave or move from Khartoum to the south or the east, as the roads remain unsafe.
Hospitals, markets and main services in Madani, Rufaa and other areas of Aljazeera state are closed. Thousands of people in villages in eastern and northern Aljazeera are trapped, while the safe roads to flee Madani are limited and increasingly more dangerous. With spreading threats of RSF moving toward Madani and expanding to other states northern of Khartoum, Sudan crisis is entering a new phase of all out war.
Despite the warnings from international actors, including the United States, RSF forces continued progressing into the cities and villages of Aljazeera. Thousands of women and WHRDs are at imminent risk with limited resources to survive this attack and face second displacement for the IDPs who resided in Al Jazeera since April.
We call on the fighting parties to halt hostilities and open safe corridors for civilians. High costs of transportation and shortage of fuel are forcing thousands to remain within fighting areas. International community must act now to save protect civilians including women and girls and prevent the expansion of the conflict in Sudan.
