An air strike in November 2023 destroyed a young woman's home in el-Geneina, Sudan and began a chain of violence and displacement. She was kidnapped by Rapid Support Forces fighters who threatened to kill her family and repeatedly raped her over two days in a remote village. The assaults caused physical injuries and triggered chronic asthma. Her home was looted and her family dispersed. After fleeing to eastern Chad she was again raped, this time by police officers. She now lives in a crowded refugee camp in Adre where thousands gather for monthly food distributions.
Islam's* life was changed forever by an air strike in November 2023. The young woman from el-Geneina, Sudan, had been preparing for her exams when a strike landed directly on her family's home. Now, sitting in one of the countless straw structures in a sprawling refugee camp in Adre just over the border in eastern Chad, Islam, 22, sobs as she recalls what happened to her.
After she and her family survived the air strike, she was kidnapped by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that has been fighting Sudan's army for two years. They threatened to kill her family if she did not submit to their demands. If they had killed me, it would have been better than what they did to me, she says, tears staining her pink hijab.
The fighters took Islam to a remote village, confined her and raped her repeatedly over two days. One would stay for two or three hours. Then his other friend would come, she says. I couldn't breathe, she adds, explaining how the trauma triggered chronic asthma, something she didn't have before the attack. When I tried to protect myself, they started beating me.
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