I was in Khartoum when the conflict started. Armed soldiers of Arabs came to our house and they wanted to loot groundnuts, but my mother resisted opening the door. Immediately, one soldier shot her. I screamed but three of the soldiers surrounded me. They grabbed me and I was taken behind a building where ten soldiers raped me. Nobody came to rescue me because my mom was already shot dead and neighbours ran away. After two days, when my mom was buried, I joined others to come to South Sudan.
This girl’s story was shared with us near the Aweil border crossing between South Sudan and Sudan, and it mirrors what we heard from many others. In the sweltering heat of July 2024 – and with mud underfoot and rainwater pooling along the road – South Sudanese members of our international team asked people to share stories about experiences of women and girls making the perilous journey between the two countries. The accounts they shared were harrowing, urgent, and clear.
We spoke with nearly 700 returnees and forced migrants – women and men, girls and boys – many of whom shared similar experiences of being terrorised by soldiers and armed militias on both sides of the Sudan civil war. The war has been tearing the country apart since 2023 and has led to the deaths of more than 150,000 people.
