Women travelling through northern Sudan have accused pro-SAF mobilised fighters at a checkpoint in Merowe of harassment and extortion, triggering anger on social media and renewed concern over the conduct of armed groups operating in areas controlled by General al-Burhan’s SAF.
The complaints, first circulated by women online and reported by Sudanese outlet Al-Sayha, centred on the Merowe checkpoint, where travellers said women passing through the area had faced intimidation and abusive behaviour from armed personnel.
In one widely shared account, a man wearing a SAF uniform allegedly boarded a passenger bus and tried to force a young woman to accompany him to a tent inside the checkpoint area. After she refused, he reportedly confiscated her passport and sat beside her in the bus.
The account said a female lawyer travelling on the same bus intervened to support the woman. The passport was later returned after the woman’s family contacted relevant authorities.
The incident has fuelled wider criticism of the expanding role of mobilised fighters and irregular pro-SAF forces at checkpoints, where civilians, especially women, are vulnerable to abuse with little oversight.
Anti-war and pro-TASIS voices have framed the allegations as part of a broader pattern of lawlessness in territories held by the Port Sudan authorities, arguing that the mobilisation of armed loyalists has created conditions for harassment, extortion and intimidation of civilians.
Social media users called for an investigation into the Merowe incident, protection for women at checkpoints and accountability for commanders responsible for forces deployed in the area.
