One woman sleeps with a knife under her pillow, in the hope she can protect herself against armed men who might storm her house at night. Another was raped “repeatedly for days” along with her four daughters, while her husband and sons were forced to watch. Another was thrown out of her home and separated from her children after her husband discovered she had become pregnant by rape.

These are among the horrific accounts of sexual violence committed against women and girls in Sudan by the east African country’s warring parties – particularly the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – in the capital Khartoum since fighting began last year, as detailed in a major report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Since civil war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and RSF rebels, swaths of the city have been reduced to rubble, as the SAF has bombed civilian neighborhoods to try to dislodge the RSF from its entrenched positions. The conflict has spilled into other parts of the country too, including its western Darfur region.

The United Nations has described the situation in Sudan as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory,” with more than 6 million Sudanese internally displaced, 1.5 million seeking safety abroad, and nearly 26 million people – more than half of the population – at risk of famine.

During 15 months of conflict, women and girls in the capital have been subjected to widespread acts of rape, including gang rape, as well as forced marriages and sexual slavery, according to HRW’s 88-page report, titled “Khartoum is Not Safe for Women” and released on July 29.

​​“The Rapid Support Forces have raped, gang raped, and forced into marriage countless women and girls in residential areas in Sudan’s capital,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at HRW.

“The armed group has terrorized women and girls and both warring parties have blocked them from getting aid and support services, compounding the harm they face and leaving them to feel that nowhere is safe,” she added.

Due to the difficulty in accessing Khartoum and speaking to survivors directly, HRW instead interviewed 42 healthcare providers, social workers and other responders between September 2023 and February 2024. Of those, 18 had provided direct care to a total of 262 survivors of sexual violence, aged from 9 through 60.

One psychiatrist, who supported more than 40 rape victims between April and November last year, recalled a survivor who had been raped and then discovered she was three months pregnant.

“She was clearly traumatized and shivering – afraid of how her family would react. She said to me, ‘If they discover my situation, they will kill me,’” the psychiatrist said in the HRW report.

Another doctor recounted the ordeal of a woman who said she had been raped by several RSF fighters.

“When the woman found out she was pregnant, her husband expelled her and took away their children. She was left on the streets,” the doctor said.

The woman came to the clinic seeking an abortion but the hospital director did not agree to the procedure, the doctor recalled. Another hospital could not perform the termination because it did not have an obstetrician.

“After the pregnancy exceeded four months, we had to offer her psychological support so that she could accept the condition. It was the only option available to us,” the doctor added.

The report said that “the physical, emotional, social and psychosocial scars left on survivors are immense.” Healthcare workers recalled treating survivors with “debilitating injuries they sustained due to the violence of the rapes and gang rapes, including vaginal bleeding, bruises and other physical trauma.” In at least four cases, these injuries proved fatal.

War crime accusations

Although the report mostly detailed violence committed by RSF forces, it said that some survivors had been scared to report incidents involving SAF soldiers, because they feared the authorities would dismiss their claims.

It also criticized both sides for preventing a comprehensive response to gender-based violence. HRW said the SAF had willfully restricted humanitarian supplies and imposed a de facto blockade on drugs entering the RSF-controlled parts of Khartoum since late last year.

The RSF has also pillaged medical supplies, according to the report, and some fighters “have on occasion perpetrated acts of sexual violence” against healthcare providers. One healthcare provider recalled being told not to report instances of sexual violence to the UN.

“I can kill you right here right now if you want to, you should be careful and stop sending reports,” the fighter reportedly said.

The report’s authors said the documented cases of sexual violence, forced marriage and deliberate attacks on healthcare facilities and providers constitute “a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Despite the severity of the suffering, HRW said there had been “little meaningful regional or international response.” It called on both sides immediately to stop attacks on healthcare facilities and workers and to allow aid to enter conflict zones.

The report added that the UN Security Council should call on the warring parties to end sexual violence and impose targeted sanctions against the commanders and perpetrators responsible for the atrocities.

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the African National Congress (ANC), the party he once led.

“Former President Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC,” ANC Secretary General Comrade Fikile Mbalula outlined at a press briefing on Monday.

“This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organization discipline and letter of the ANC constitution,” Mbalula said, adding that former President Zuma has been running on a dangerous platform that casts doubts on our entire constitutional edifice,”

The expulsion comes after the ANC announced it had suspended Zuma’s membership on January 29 this year, following Zuma’s declaration of support for a newly formed rival political party, uMkhonto WeSizwe Party (MK party), in December 2023.

In January, the ANC stated that the party is dedicated to nurturing and, when required, correcting its members and leaders.

However, as their renewal efforts intensify, individuals like Zuma, whose actions conflict with the party’s values and principles, will find themselves excluded from the ANC.

Mbalula said Zuma has 21 days to appeal the decision.

A series of scandals

Zuma was forced to resign as president in 2018 after a series of corruption scandals and internal infighting in the ANC. He was found guilty of contempt of court by the constitutional court for his refusal to testify to an anti-corruption commission.

In May, the same court ruled unanimously that Zuma was not eligible to run for parliament in the country’s critical general election, capping months of long speculation and legal wrangling on whether the former leader of the ruling ANC would be able to stand for the country’s top legislative body.

Yet, while he was barred from running in this May’s general election, his face remained on the ballot paper for the MK party.

The ANC lost its majority for the first time in 30 years in that election, marking the biggest political shift in the country since the end of apartheid. Support for the ANC dropped to 40.18%, a huge slump from the 57.5% it received in the last election in 2019.

The official opposition party, the centrist Democratic Alliance (DA), received 21.8% of the vote. While Zuma’s MK had nearly 14.59% of the vote.

At least eight people were stabbed in the northern English town of Southport on Monday, with some of the victims being transferred to a children’s hospital, ambulance officials said.

Merseyside Police said it received reports of a stabbing and emergency services were called to a “major incident” in the town at around 11:50 a.m. local time (6:50aET).

“There are a number of reported casualties and more details will be confirmed when possible. Armed police have detained a male and seized a knife. He has been taken to a police station,” police said in their latest statement. “Please avoid the area while we deal with this incident. There is no wider threat to the public.”

Local business owner Colin Parry was one of the people who called the police, said the incident in Southport was like a “scene in a horror movie,” according to PA Media.

Parry said he believed a number of young girls had been stabbed. “The mothers are coming here now and screaming. It is like a scene from a horror movie,” Parry said, adding that, “police have got him.”

The businessman said he had directed police to an address in Hart Street behind the Hart Space studios, where one of the events listed at the time of the stabbings was a
Taylor Swift-themed yoga class for children ages six to 11, according to its website.

“It’s like something from America, not like sunny Southport,” Parry said.

The Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Trust in Liverpool, about 20 miles from Southport, declared a “major incident.

“The Trust is working with other emergency services to respond to this incident and our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy,” the hospital said in a statement posted to its website. “We ask parents to only bring their children to the Emergency Department if it is urgent,” it said.

The British MP representing Southport, Patrick Hurley says he was “deeply concerned” about the “incident.”

“I am hoping for the best possible outcomes to the casualties affected. My thoughts go out to all those affected, their loved ones and to the entire community,” Hurley said on X.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the town where the incident occurred.

Protests broke out in several Venezuelan cities on Monday after authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro was formally declared a winner by the county’s electoral authority in a presidential race marred by accusations of electoral fraud.

In the capital of Caracas, protesters blocked roads, while hundreds more were seen walking down a main road banging pots and pans in protest against Maduro’s victory on Sunday. At the city’s main military base, where Maduro lives, people were seen setting fire to the strongman’s election posters.

The next 24 hours will be key in seeing how Maduro responds to the allegations against him. Analysts say there could be a new wave of unrest in the country if there are widespread protests against the regime. Street demonstrations in previous years were crushed by the country’s military, which has long supported Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez.

Maduro smiled as he entered the National Electoral Council (CNE) before a Monday ceremony at which he was declared the winner, receiving cheers and congratulations from many in the audience. The CNE, which is stacked with Maduro allies, has yet to issue final vote tallies from Sunday’s election.

“Venezuela has the best electoral system in the world!” CNE president Elvis Amoroso announced before proceeding with the formal announcement.

But the vote was riddled with claims of irregularities. It included opposition witnesses being denied access to the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters as votes were counted and the electoral authority allegedly prevented more votes from being processed.

Maduro’s government controls almost all state institutions, including the CNE, which was accused in 2017 of manipulating turnout figures by a software company that provided the voting technology. The CNE previously denied the assertion.

The opposition coalition, headed by Maria Corina Machado, earlier rejected Maduro’s win, saying the opposition’s records show that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez received 70% of the votes against Maduro’s 30%. “We won, and everyone knows it,” Machado said. The coalition plans on making a statement later on Monday.

Machado is part of a unified opposition movement that overcame their divisions to form a coalition known as the Democratic Unitary Platform. Its energized campaign, which enjoyed strong polling figures prior to Sunday’s vote, was seen as the biggest challenge to Maduro’s rule.

Calls for transparency

The United States is among regional leaders, including Peru and Chile, that have raised questions about the validity of the result.

Brazil, an important regional player, was softer in tone but said it was awaiting “the publication by the National Electoral Council of data broken down by polling station, an essential step for the transparency, credibility, and legitimacy of the election results,” according to a statement by the foreign ministry.

The US on Monday joined Venezuelan civil society groups and the opposition by calling on Venezuela’s government to “immediately” release specific data on the presidential election, citing concerns about the credibility of Maduro’s victory.

Senior Biden administration officials on Monday said Venezuelan election authorities must release the “detailed precinct level results” from the election. One senior administration official noted that this data is required under Venezuela law and should be immediately available. Another said that if the election results are credible, “then this should be a very simple act and one that they would be able to fulfill quite easily.”

“If there is resistance to providing that additional information, then I think that becomes highly problematic when it comes to the ability of the United States or other members of the international community to judge whether these elections were in fact inclusive and credible,” the second official said.

“Our deepest concern at this juncture is that the analysis and data that we have about this election – which is independent from the National Electoral Council results – is at odds with the results as they were announced by the Venezuelan authorities. And so that discrepancy, in our view, needs to be investigated and addressed before we can close the books on this election,” the second official added.

The officials declined to give specifics on the actions the US or international community would be prepared to take if the Venezuelan authorities do not release the data or if the results are determined to be fraudulent, but they did not rule out sanctions.

US sanctions against Venezuela were first imposed in 2017 and gradually increased as the South American country’s political crisis deepened in the following years. The opposition’s accusations cast doubt on Venezuela’s return to the international stage after Maduro pledged last year to hold free and fair elections in US-brokered talks, in exchange for sanctions relief.

The first official said they would begin to have conversations in forums like the Organization of American States (OAS) and the G7 about the “collective way forward.”