Rape haunts women of Darfur

March 11, 2007 (ARDAMATA CAMP, Sudan) — The 25-year-old Darfuri woman was raped in front of her two young children, whose screams haunted her during an attack which she is too ashamed to tell her husband about.

Despite a recent lull in fighting, rape continues in Darfur’s conflict. The crime is so sensitive it is seldom reported by victims who fear retribution and social exclusion.

The 25-year-old, who asked not to be named, was raped by a man carrying a gun. She said he was a member of a pro-government militia, mobilised to quell a four-year-old rebellion.

“It was one man with a rifle who threatened us,” she said, her gaze lowered to the ground. “He told me your husband has left you and gone to the rebellion, so I will kill you.”

“My children were screaming and ran off into the bush. All I could hear was their screaming.”

She said she was fleeing an attack on her village in late December and was on the way to the Ardamata camp near el-Geneina town in West Darfur.

She was so badly beaten and distressed, she lay on the road side for nine days while her two cousins tended to her wounds.

“I haven’t told my husband. I’m scared to,” she said.

Rape is a difficult crime to prove under Islamic law in Sudan. The victim said she did not go to the hospital or to the police because she was ashamed.

U.N. reports have detailed examples where raped victims in Darfur have been jailed for extra-marital sex.

Khartoum’s own report on Darfur concluded there was rape but not on the large scale international aid agencies say.

Aid agencies like Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) that have published reports documenting hundreds of rape cases have been harassed by the government, which denies widespread rape in Darfur.

SHAME

But the young women who covertly shared their secrets in Ardamata camp were just a few among many who said they had not gone to medical centres run by the aid agencies. Their attacks were not included in any reports.

Another victim said she was just one of five women raped in the bushes near her village in November. She was the only one to seek help because she had lost too much blood from a head wound.

“Four men came upon us riding three horses and one camel,” she said. “They beat us and raped us one by one,” she said.

“They were telling us all your sons are rebels and your people are and we will kill you all,” she said.

“We told them we have nothing against your people and our people are not in the fighting, we are just poor people,” she said. They were ignored.

“They tried to take me to become their slave but I refused and they beat me in the head with their rifles,” she said. “My blood spilled everywhere and I went to the hospital and was on a drip for a whole day.” “The other girls were too ashamed to go to the medical centre.”

All the women described their attackers as wearing green khaki military uniforms, with their heads wrapped in green or black material.

In West Darfur bandits, militia, and rebels from both Sudan and neighbouring Chad fill the roads. These women seemed sure their attackers were Sudanese and Arab.

It is unclear if Khartoum controls the tribes they are accused of mobilising to fight the rebels.

“They shouted you are blacks, ignorant people,” said one, who said she was raped during a December attack on her village.

(Reuters)