Sudan — Domestic violence incidents have escalated in Sudan over the past months, with cases of murder and serious assaults recorded within families amid security chaos and the declining presence of judicial institutions.

A pregnant woman was killed in the Musa suburb south of Nyala, western Sudan, on the evening of Thursday, August 27, after her husband, a soldier in the Rapid Support Forces, opened fire on her following a verbal dispute between them, hitting her in the head and chest. She died instantly before being transported to the hospital.

The victim had married the perpetrator in the city of Wad Madani in Al-Jazirah state during the period of Rapid Support Forces control over the city. He forcibly took her with him to Nyala, an area under Rapid Support Forces control. The local police took no legal action against the perpetrator.

The perpetrator buried her about six hours after killing her, with the help of one of his neighbors, late last night. According to local reports, a number of Rapid Support Forces members married girls in areas they controlled across large parts of Al-Jazirah, Sennar, and Khartoum states, before some of them moved with their wives to Nyala and other cities in Darfur after the Sudanese army regained control over parts of those states.