HRW and UN experts separately 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 in separate statements, as the country enters its fourth month of conflict. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said Thursday the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary apparently targeted women and girls in the western Darfur region of non-Arab ethnicity as well as activists recording human rights abuses during its fighting with the country’s armed forces. It said it documented 78 victims of rape between April 24 and June 26. A group of 30 Independent United Nations experts has also expressed alarm at reports “of widespread use of rape and other forms of sexual violence by” the RSF.