Rights group and UN experts single out Sudanese paramilitary with accusations of sexual violence

By JACK JEFFERY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s powerful paramilitary has been singled out by a leading rights group and 30 United Nations experts with accusations of rape and sexual violence against women. The separate statements on Thursday come as Sudan has entered its fifth month of conflict. Human Rights Watch says the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces apparently targeted women and girls of non-Arab ethnicity in the western Darfur region, as well as activists recording human rights abuses during its fighting with the Sudanese army. The group said it documented 78 victims of rape between April 24 and June 26. Meanwhile, U.N. experts voiced alarm at reports “of widespread use of rape and other forms of sexual violence by” the RSF.