In this photograph released by UNICEF, a 16-year rape victim rests on a mattress at a UNICEF office in Sudan, December 2, 2024
[Tess Ingram/UNICEF via AP] 
CHILDREN in conflict-ravaged Sudan as young as a year old have been raped since the beginning of 2024, according to the United Nations children’s agency yesterday.
Unicef said that 221 children, including boys, were raped by armed men, according to records compiled by gender-based violence service providers in the north African nation.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the military and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces with battles in Khartoum and around the country.
As the Alliance of Sahel States and southern African nations advance pan-African goals, the African Union must listen and learn rather than parroting the Western line on these positive developments, writes ROGER McKENZIE
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