The United Nations says sexual violence is one of the “most defining features” of Sudan’s war, now in its fourth year.

It says sexual assaults have soared since the war began, but it did not have data on assaults by combatants.

The UN said many women have been subjected to sexual slavery and forced to pay ransoms for their release, sometimes up to $10,000.

The UN and rights groups have accused all parties of sexual assault, including allied armed groups, but they said the majority of the violence has been committed by the RSF, particularly in the Khartoum area, Darfur and Gezira state.

According to the UN, South Kordofan has also become a hot spot as the war there expands.

The RSF did not respond to questions about abductions or assaults.

The AP reported that they met three women who said they were abducted, held as sex slaves and forced to buy their freedom, adding that they were introduced by aid workers who were aware of what had happened.

The AP could not verify the accounts of the women who spoke out in a country where discussing sexual assault remains deeply taboo.

A 38-year-old woman said she fled her home in el-Fasher in September, weeks before the besieged city in Darfur was captured by the RSF, an assault the UN said bore “hallmarks” of genocide.

She said her husband, a soldier, had been killed. Her brother had been shot and badly wounded and needed care.

She explained that RSF fighters ambushed them on the road, they separated the women and children and searched the men for shoulder marks indicating they had carried a gun, a sign they were likely soldiers. Everyone was forced to strip.

She said when the RSF tried to kill her brother, she told them to take her instead.

According to her, she was bound, beaten and thrown into a truck with four other women and teenage girls and driven to an abandoned village in the desert. Naked and hungry, they lay bound in a shelter, urinating on themselves.

For the next two days, she said she and the others were raped multiple times by different men. The captors would enter and choose who they wanted, untie them, assault them and bind them again.

“I was thinking about ending my life,” the woman said, wiping away tears. On the second day, the men demanded about $1,500 for my freedom,” she said. “They gave me a phone and told me to empty my bank account. I transferred everything, about $200. They made me open Facebook and reach out to contacts. I called my cousin. But once he paid, the fighters called him back and pressed a metal object on my fingernails while I screamed in pain, so they demanded more money.’’

She said the torture, including sexual assault, went on for hours during calls. Her captors finally accepted about 700 dollars for her release.

Hala Alkarib, regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, a grassroots feminist network, said some people may remain captive and eventually disappear.

(AP/NAN)