Darfur women decry impunity for rape

Nov 17, 2005 (AL-BILEEL CAMP) — A culture of impunity for rape in Sudan’s Darfur region means women like Mariam, assaulted and left for dead, say they don’t even bother to report the attacks to police, aid workers and officials said.

A young girl listens to women talking in a counselling tent at Abushouk camp near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state November 7, 2004. The camp is home to more than 45,000 people who have fled fighting in western Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, where sexual violence against women is common. (Reuters) .

Mariam, who was too afraid to give her full name because she was worried about reprisals for discussing the taboo subject, says women are most at risk when they leave the refugee camps that house around 2 million mostly women and children.

She arrived at the al-Bileel camp near the state capital Nyala after fleeing her home in South Darfur state six months ago. She says she watched as her 12-year-old cousin was raped, and then was subjected to the same assault.

“I was out looking for firewood not far from here when this man dressed in green khaki grabbed me and started beating me with his gun,” she said. Mariam was then raped and beaten for an hour. She lost the sight in her right eye for more than a month.

“The police don’t investigate anything so we don’t even bother to report it anymore,” she said.

Unraveling her long green and yellow covering, a tiny baby emerged from the folds of the fabric. “This is my youngest — I have six,” she said, after relating the story told by so many Darfur women struggling to keep their families alive on scant provisions while also trying to fend off the violence aid workers say is systematic.

Canada’s special envoy for peace in Sudan, Mobina Jaffer, said the government needed to find and prosecute those who have sexually assaulted hundreds of women in Darfur to stop the crime, otherwise it would continue unchecked.

All sides of the conflict have committed the crime, she said — the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), and the Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed.

“One woman said first the Janjaweed came and raped her village. Then the SLA came and raped,” she said. “Rape is a weapon of war here.”

“There is absolute impunity,” she added.

The government in Khartoum had routinely denied or dismissed reports of rape since the rebel uprising began in February 2003 and punished groups reporting the attacks.

The Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid agency felt the full brunt of the government’s censure after it published a report earlier this year detailing hundreds of attacks.

Authorities arrested two senior MSF officials for spying and publishing false information, although the charges were eventually dropped weeks later.

Since then Jaffer, on a visit to Darfur this week, said there were some positive steps on the part of the government in recognizing that rape occurs.

“We are not hearing now as before ‘Good Muslim boys don’t rape’,” she said.

But aid agencies heard the government’s message and many are still too afraid to let outsiders enter their trauma centers for women or release figures for how many rape victims they treat.

“I’m worried that this has caused a silencing … a silencing of the voices of the women,” Jaffer said.

“The government punished the messenger rather than dealing with the message.”

Non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 saying the government monopolized power and wealth. The United Nations says Khartoum responded by arming militia who are accused of a widespread campaign of rape, looting and killing.

The United States called the violence genocide, a charge Khartoum denies. But the International Criminal Court is investigating suspected war crimes in the remote region.

(Reuters)