Today we speak with Sudanese activist Hala Al-Karib about the horrific, targeted and widespread violence against women in Sudan. Al-Karib says sexual violence is being used as a tool of war which “strips communities of everything, including their dignity.” And today she says the situation is only getting worse.

ITwo years in, Sudan’s civil war has shifted in recent weeks, with the country’s military regaining control of the capital, Khartoum amid fierce fighting.

The civil war has devastated the country, with fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has led to severe a humanitarian crises, with more than 10,000 people killed and the displacement of more than six million.

The war has also been marked by extreme large-scale sexual violence, with the United Nations saying the RSF are “responsible for committing sexual violence on a large scale in areas under their control, including gang-rapes and abducting and detaining victims in conditions that amount to sexual slavery.”

Reuters has also released a special report on the country’s widespread sexual violence, featuring testimonies from survivors. Many recounting harrowing experiences of being raped at gunpoint by multiple men over multiple days.

To understand more on what is taking place we spoke with Sudanese activist Hala Al-Karib. Al-Karib is the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA). As Hala explains to us, sexual violence is one of main features of this war and it’s unfortunately not something new to Sudan civil conflicts.

This podcast has been produced as part of a partnership with JusticeInfo.net, an independent website in French and English covering justice initiatives in countries dealing with serious violence. It is a media outlet of Fondation Hirondelle, based in Lausanne, Switzerland.