'A living hell': Sudanese women face rape and abuse in Libya

"We unrecorded successful terror," whispers Layla implicit the telephone truthful cipher tin hear. She fled Sudan with her hubby and six children aboriginal past twelvemonth successful hunt of information and is present successful Libya.

Like each the Sudanese women who the BBC spoke to astir their experiences of being trafficked to Libya, her sanction has been changed to support her identity.

Warning: This communicative contains details immoderate whitethorn find distressing.

In a trembling dependable she explains however her location successful Omdurman had been raided during Sudan's convulsive civilian war, which erupted successful 2023.

The household went to Egypt archetypal earlier paying traffickers $350 (£338) to instrumentality them to Libya, wherever they had been told beingness would beryllium amended and they would beryllium capable to find jobs successful cleaning and hospitality.

But arsenic soon arsenic they crossed the border, Layla says the traffickers held them hostage, bushed them and demanded much money.

"My lad needed aesculapian attraction aft helium was deed repeatedly successful the face," she tells the BBC.

The traffickers released them aft 3 days, without saying why. Layla thought her caller beingness successful Libya was starting to get amended aft the family managed to question west and she rented a country and started working.

But 1 time her hubby near to look for enactment and ne'er returned. Then her 19-year-old girl was raped by a antheral known to the household done Layla's job.

"He told my girl helium would rape her younger sister if she spoke astir what helium did to her," Layla says.

She speaks successful hushed tones fearing the household volition beryllium evicted if their landlady hears astir the threats.

Layla says they are present trapped successful Libya: they person nary wealth near to wage traffickers to permission and cannot instrumentality to war-torn Sudan.

"We person hardly immoderate food," she says, adding that her children are not successful school. "My lad is acrophobic to permission the location arsenic different children often bushed him and insult him for being black. I consciousness similar I'm going to suffer my mind."

Millions person fled Sudan since the warfare betwixt the service and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted successful 2023. The 2 sides had jointly staged a coup successful 2021, but a powerfulness conflict betwixt their commanders plunged the state into civilian war.

More than 12 cardinal radical person been forced from their homes, portion famine has dispersed to 5 areas, with 24.6 cardinal radical - astir fractional the colonisation - successful urgent request of nutrient aid, experts say.

The UN exile bureau says much than 210,000 Sudanese refugees are present successful Libya.

The BBC has spoken to 5 Sudanese families who initially went to Egypt, wherever they said they experienced racism and violence, earlier moving to Libya, believing it would beryllium safer with amended occupation opportunities. We contacted them done a researcher successful migration and asylum seeker issues successful Libya.

Salma tells the BBC she was already surviving successful Cairo, successful Egypt, with her hubby and 3 children erstwhile the Sudanese civilian warfare broke out, but arsenic immense numbers of refugees entered the country, conditions for migrants determination worsened.

They decided to determination to Libya, but what was awaiting them determination was a "living hell", Salma says.

She describes how, arsenic soon arsenic they crossed the border, they were placed successful a warehouse tally by traffickers. The men wanted wealth that had been paid successful beforehand to traffickers connected the Egyptian broadside of the border, but it ne'er arrived.

Her household spent astir 2 months successful the warehouse. At 1 point, Salma was separated from her hubby and taken to a country for women and children. Here, she says she and her 2 eldest children were subjected to assorted forms of brutality due to the fact that they wanted the money.

"Their whips near marks connected our bodies. They would bushed my girl and enactment my son's hands successful a lit oven portion I was watching.

"Sometimes I wished we would each dice together. I could deliberation of nary different mode out."

Salma says her lad and girl were traumatised by the acquisition and person suffered from incontinence since. She past lowers her voice.

"They would instrumentality maine to a abstracted room, the 'rape room' with antithetic men each time," she says. "I carnivore the kid of 1 of them."

Eventually, she raised immoderate wealth done a person successful Egypt and the traffickers released the family.

She says a doc past told her it was excessively precocious for an abortion, and erstwhile her hubby recovered retired she was large helium abandoned her and the children, leaving them to slumber rough, eating leftovers from rubbish bins and begging successful the street.

They recovered refuge connected a distant workplace successful north-western Libya for a while, spending full days with small to nary food. They quenched their thirst by drinking contaminated h2o from a adjacent well.

"It breaks my bosom to perceive my [older] lad saying helium is virtually dying from hunger," Salma says implicit the phone, arsenic the cries of her babe turn louder successful the background.

"He is truthful hungry," she says, "but I person nothing, not adjacent capable beverage successful my breasts to provender him."

Jamila, a Sudanese pistillate successful her mid-40s, besides believed reports wrong the Sudanese assemblage that a amended beingness awaited them successful Libya.

She fled erstwhile unrest successful Sudan's occidental portion of Darfur successful 2014 and spent years successful Egypt earlier moving to Libya successful precocious 2023. She says her daughters person been raped repeatedly since past - they were 19 and 20 erstwhile it archetypal happened.

"I sent them for a cleaning occupation portion I was ill; they came backmost astatine nighttime covered with ungraded and humor - 4 men raped them until 1 of them fainted," she tells the BBC.

Jamila says she was besides raped and held captive for weeks by a man, overmuch younger than her, who had offered her a occupation cleaning his house.

"He utilized to telephone maine a 'disgusting black'. He raped maine and said, 'This is what women were made for,'" she recalls.

"Even kids present are mean to us, they dainty america arsenic beasts and sorcerers, they insult america for being achromatic and African, are they not Africans themselves?" Jamila says.

When her daughters were raped the archetypal time, Jamila took them to infirmary and reported it to police. But erstwhile the constabulary serviceman realised they were refugees, Jamila says helium withdrew the study and warned her that she would beryllium jailed if the ailment was officially filed. This was successful the westbound of Libya.

Libya is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention oregon the 1967 protocol relating to the Status of Refugees - and considers refugees and asylum-seekers "illegal migrants".

The state is divided into two, with each portion tally by a antithetic government, but the concern is easier for migrants successful the eastbound arsenic they tin record authoritative complaints without being detained, and entree healthcare much easily, according to quality rights radical Libya Crimes Watch.

While intersexual unit is communal wrong unofficial facilities tally by traffickers, determination is besides grounds that maltreatment is happening successful authoritative detention centres successful Libya, particularly successful the west.

Hanaa, a Sudanese pistillate who works gathering integrative bottles from bins to provender her children, says she was abducted successful occidental Libya and taken to a wood and raped astatine gunpoint by a radical of men.

The adjacent time her attackers took her to a installation tally by the state-funded Stability Support Authority (SSA). Nobody told Hanaa wherefore she had been detained.

"Young men and boys were beaten and forced to wholly region their apparel portion I was watching," Hanaa tells the BBC.

"I was determination for days. I slept connected the bare floor, resting my caput connected my integrative slippers. They would fto maine spell to the toilet aft hours of begging. I was repeatedly beaten connected the head."

There person been galore erstwhile reports of migrants from different African countries being abused successful Libya. The state is simply a cardinal stepping chromatic connected the mode to Europe, though nary of the women the BBC spoke to planned to question there.

In 2022, Amnesty International accused the SSA of "unlawful killings, arbitrary detentions, interception and consequent arbitrary detention of migrants and refugees, torture, forced labour, and different shocking quality rights violations and crimes nether planetary law".

The study states that Ministry of Interior officials successful the capital, Tripoli, told Amnesty that the ministry had nary oversight implicit the SSA since it answers to the premier minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, whose bureau did not respond to our petition for comment.

Libya Crimes Watch has told the BBC that systemic intersexual maltreatment of migrants takes spot successful authoritative migrant detention centres, including the notorious Abu Salim situation successful Tripoli.

In a 2023 report, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said determination was an "increasing fig of reports of intersexual and carnal violence, including systematic portion and intimate assemblage searches and rape" astatine Abu Salim.

The interior affairs curate and the Department for Combating Illegal Migration successful Tripoli did not respond to our petition for comment.

Salma has present near the workplace moved into a caller country with different household nearby, but she and her household inactive look the menace of eviction and abuse.

She says she cannot spell backmost location due to the fact that of what happened to her.

"I bring shame connected the family, they would say. I'm not definite they would adjacent invited my dormant body," she says. "If lone I had known what was awaiting maine here."