•Nine women raped by Abu Tira forces
Al Lair Jar Al Nabi (9 February 2012) – Elements of Abu Tira forces (Central Reserve Forces) reportedly raped nine South Sudanese female refugees in Al Lait Jar Al Nabi in North Darfur in the past week, relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga ….
•Woman raped east of Zalingei
Zalingei, West Darfur (12 January 2012) – On Wednesday a young woman was raped by two armed men near Wadi Dul Beja displaced persons camp, east of Zalingei, in West Darfur. A female source told Radio Dabanga the woman ventured out of the camp with her sister and mother to collect firewood ….
•High school student coaxed out of house, raped by gang of men in Kass
(13 January 2012) – On Thursday a high school student was raped by four armed men in Kass locality, South Darfur. A relative of the girl told Radio Dabanga that four armed men in civilian clothing knocked on the door of the family house. When her father answered, the men said they had an arrest warrant for the girl. The mother asked to see the warrant but was told it is not her place to question the competence of the police ….
•Girl, 14, raped in West Darfur
El Geneina (4 January 2012) – A 14-year-old girl was raped by an unknown number of gunmen, near Kandomi displaced persons’ camp in West Darfur, a source told Radio Dabanga. The girl was with four others on the way back to the camp from El Geneina hospital on Monday where they were visiting a relative.
•Girl raped in North Darfur camp
El Fasher (30 December 2011) – On Wednesday the rape of a 12-year-old girl was reported in the Shaddad camp for displaced persons in the Shangil Tobaya region of North Darfur. A witness said that the girl was snatched at the camp and taken to the headquarters of the government affiliated Popular Defense Force (PDF), where she endured the attack for 10 hours ….
•Women raped near Eastern Chad refugee camp
Eastern Chad (30 December, 2011) – Four women from Darfur were raped in Gaga refugee camp in Eastern Chad on Sunday, a source has told Radio Dabanga. The women ventured out of the camp to fetch firewood in the early afternoon when they were attacked by four armed gunmen. A fifth woman suffered a beating but managed to escape ….
•Group of women raped near Kabkabiya
Kabkabiya (25 December 2011) – A group of women were raped by an armed group on Saturday near an internally displaced persons camp in Kabkabiya locality, North Darfur. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, one of the victims said that eight gunmen on horses intercepted the six women traveling on donkeys to collect firewood from an area east of Kabkabiya ….
•Darfur woman shot dead fleeing rapists
HASSA HISSA (December 21, 2011) – Four armed men on camels and wearing military uniforms shot dead a woman near Hassa Hissa Displaced Camp in Darfur. Khadija Abu, 45 years old, was shot dead on Saturday in area by Mount Kono near Zalingei. Witnesses said that about 11 woman from the camp had gone out that day to collect firewood and harvest crops. The witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the militants tried to rape the women, but the women ran away, prompting the gunmen to open fire on them, causing the death of Khadija Abu. Other women fled and dispersed.
•Rape and beating in South Darfur
Nyala (18 December 2011) – Three women were raped by an armed group on Saturday near the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camp in Mershing locality, South Darfur, a witness told Radio Dabanga. The women left Hashaba camp to search for firewood when the armed men opened heavy gunfire in the air to scare them. They detained the women, beating them and taking turns to rape them ….
•Woman raped near Zam Zam camp
El Fasher (14 December 2011) – A woman was raped by two men dressed in military uniform in North Darfur on Tuesday, a witness told Radio Dabanga. The woman was living in Zam Zam camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) fleeing the conflict in the area. Carrying her four-month-old baby, she ventured out of the camp 2 km east to collect firewood ….
[UNAMID has proved incapable of protecting even the IDPs of ZamZam, on the outskirts of el-Fasher, where UNAMID headquarters are located.]
•IDP raped in Qarsla [more commonly Garsila]
Qarsla (5 December 2011) – An Armed group on Sunday raped an internally displaced person from Jebelain camp in Qarsla, Western Darfur. A witness told Radio Dabanga that the Gunmen attacked the displaced person while she was working on her farm in Wadi Mara, 3 kilometers south of the camp. He said that the gunmen took turns in raping the displaced person and pointed out that the region has no UNAMID mandate and that no complaint was filed at police as no procedure will be carried out as in previous incidents ….
•Two rapes in West Darfur
ZALINGEI (29 November 2011) – A refugee [from] West Darfur’s Hassa Hissa camp was raped and killed by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday, a source from Zalingei told Radio Dabanga. The armed group allegedly raped the woman in front of her husband after the evening prayers, when the victim was returning home from the city with her husband.
•Policemen rape minor in West Darfur
EL GENEINA (21 November 2011) – Two policemen allegedly raped a nine-year old girl from El Geneina in West Darfur on Monday, a relative of the victim told Radio Dabanga. The relative told Radio Dabanga that the girl, who lived in Abu Zr refugee camp, had been asked to fetch water by her mother before sunset.
•Woman gang-raped in West Darfur
GARSILA (23 November 2011) – Armed herders wearing military uniforms accused of committing the crime Armed herders gang-raped a 32-year-old displaced woman from West Darfur’s Wadi Dawari locality on Wednesday, a witness told Radio Dabanga. Three herders were allegedly involved in the killing which took place 3 km from the city of West Garsila.
•Serial rape crimes in West Darfur: Five women fall victim to armed shepherds in one week
MORNEI (17 November 2011) – A series of rape crimes were committed in West Darfur’s Mornei region this week, witnesses told Radio Dabanga on Thursday. Two refugee women were raped in Mornei region’s Kabiri Valley on Tuesday, on in Aro Valley on the same day and two others in Mornei refugee camp on Monday. In all cases, armed shepherds were accused of the rapes ….
•Armed group rapes student
EL FASHER (11 November 2011) – Witnesses accuse that the crime has an ethnic dimension A group of unidentified armed men reportedly raped a student from the region of Azban in Tawaisha, North Darfur on Wednesday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the crime was committed on ethnic lines. The group allegedly demanded other women belonging to the same ethnicity to leave the village immediately after they had raped the student.
•Refugee shot dead in North Darfur
KABKABIYA (9 November 2011) – He was killed by armed men after he attempted to rescue girls from being raped A refugee, Ahmed Saleh, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Al Matar neighborhood of North Darfur’s Kabkabiya locality on Tuesday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that 52-year-old Adam Saleh was killed after he tried rescuing some girls in his neighborhood from four armed gunmen who were trying to rape them.
•Sudan: Three Teenagers Raped in West Darfur
GARSILA (6 November 2011) – An unidentified armed group raped three teenage refugees in West Darfur’s Garsila camp on Friday, witnesses told Radio Dabanga. “Three gunmen took the women from the village of Amarjadid in Western Garsila. The women were aged 14, 15 and 17,” a witness told Radio Dabanga.
•6 women in Tawila, 1 in Zalingei raped by government militia
TAWILA/ZALINGEI (15 June 2011) – Armed men belonging to a militia closely affiliated to the government raped six refugee women from Rwanda camp in Tawila, in an area lying between the market and the camp. The rapists attacked women on 8 June and 10 June. The two girls were raped by the armed men and then taken to the camp in critical condition. The UNAMID was informed of the incident and witnesses reported that two days after the first rape, four other girls were raped in a similar manner as they were on their way to the well to bring water. The witnesses said that after the two incidents, the armed men tortured and beat a group of female displaced people who were transferred to the hospital for treatment. They also stated that UNAMID was informed of the incident and the witnesses appealed to the United Nations and Security Council to interfere to stop the rapes and protect the women and displaced people of Darfur.
Meanwhile in Zalingei, West Darfur, four armed men abducted one of the young girls from Andru village which lies ten kilometers from Zalingei on Saturday and raped her repeatedly and then released her on Sunday. A donkey cart and a donkey was also robbed from the displaced person Kaltouma Ahmed Mohammed by three gunmen as she was on her way from the agricultural fields to Hamidiya camp in Zalingei.
•Darfur woman abducted by gunmen from camp at Seraf Omra
SERAF OMRA (14 June 2011) – Three armed men in military uniforms abducted the displaced person Rashida Hassan Adam Issa from Donkoy camp in Seraf Omra on Thursday evening. One of the relatives Rashida said that the gunmen entered the house of Rashida’s family which was on the eastern side of the camp and led her westwards toward Seraf Omra at gunpoint. The relative also added that the family of the abducted woman had filed a complaint with the police but the police did not carry out any action.
•Five women missing near Kutum after flight from gunmen
KUTUM (14 June 2011) – The residents of Jebel Mari, which lies to south of Kutum, said that armed men on two Land Cruisers and wearing military uniforms chased five women who were gathering firewood. An eyewitness stated that the women, who were from the village of Hashaba, ran away to escape. Up to now, the residents of the area could not find them despite that all residents searched the area. The witness also stated that they have reported to the police but the police told them to wait without carrying out any procedures.
•Eight (8) women raped by armed militia
El Geneina (6 June 2011) – An armed militia closely affiliated to the government raped eight displaced women from Kirending camp in west Darfur when they were on their way to gather wood on Thursday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the displaced women were subjected to rape collectively at gunpoint and beaten with sticks and rifle ends. The raped women were transferred to Geneina hospital in critical physical and psychological situation to receive treatment and said that they were threatened with physical torture if they would testify with any information to any human rights organization or news agency.
•Three women beaten, stabbed, raped by gunmen in North Darfur
KASSAB CAMP (9 June 2011) – An unknown armed group raped three female displaced people from Kassab Camp in Kubum, North Darfur. The attack on Tuesday targeted three women aged fifteen, twenty and twenty-five years old. The women were first severely beaten with sticks, whips, and rifle butts. They were also stabbed with knives in their thighs. The person who was accompanying them was also subjected to beating. The person said that he was accompanying his relatives to get firewood from Jebel Mari but the armed group stopped them on the way and raped his three relatives in front of his eyes and beat him with sticks and whips and threw him on the ground with a gun pointed to his head.
•Woman shot in leg in attempted rape in Mershing
Mershing (24 May 2011) – Gunmen belonging to local militias closely affiliated with the government chased six displaced women in the area of Mershing with the purpose of raping them. The incident occurred last Thursday as they were coming back from gathering wood. A witness told Radio Dabanga that the six women managed to flee after running away, despite being fired at, which led to the injury of one of the women on her leg. The displaced person also stated that such criminal acts are continuously being practiced throughout the areas of Mershing, Menawahi and Duma. Gunmen also sometimes confiscate donkey-carts. The local people complain that authorities do not take any steps to protect them.
•Rapes prevalent in Menawashi district of Darfur, residents say
AMAR JADEED (March 15, 2011) – The residents of the village of Amar Jadeed in Menawashi Locality in South Darfur complained of nighttime attacks on their wives and daughters by armed men. One villager told Radio Dabanga that elements of the border guards come nightly from their camp, which is located near the village, and rape women and girls. The attacks occur even within the homes of victims and sometimes while husbands and fathers are present and held at gunpoint. The villager said that the attacks do not stop until 10:00 the following morning.
•7 rape cases in Shagra and 1 in Garsila by uniformed Darfur militia
SHAGRA/GARSILA (March 15, 2011) – Armed men wearing uniforms and mounted on camels committed seven rapes in Shagra area, targeting displaced women who had gone out of their camps to harvest crops. Seven rape victims were from Abu Shouk Camp. Another girl was raped elsewhere in Darfur, in Garsila. A women’s rights activist in El Fasher told Radio Dabanga that a first incident occurred when camel herders attacked and raped women farm workers last Wednesday. The second incident occurred Friday, also in Shagra, when herders raped three women at night near the farms. According to the activist, the women were first severely beaten with sticks, then raped.
In Garsila Locality in West Darfur, an armed group on Sunday raped a 15-year old girl. A relative said that the perpetrators were gunmen who came on three camels and horses and were wearing military uniform. They intercepted the girl as she was on her way to gather firewood. They raped her alternately and then slashed her ears (in order to mark her permanently as a rape victim).
•Gunmen in military uniforms rape two refugee girls in Darfur
ZALINGEI (March 8, 2011) – Gunmen dressed in military uniforms raped two girls from Hamidiya Camp for displaced people on Sunday. The camp is located outside of Zalingei town in West Darfur. One of the displaced people told Radio Dabanga that one of the victims is 12 years old. The girls had gone out of the camp to fetch firewood. The gunmen attacked them and took them to a remote place and then gang-raped them.
•Darfur woman raped by gunmen in Sirba, Darfur
SIRBA (March 7, 2011) – An armed group on Saturday raped a woman, 25 years old, at Kandiba Camp in Sirba Locality. Three others were able to escape, according to a witness. The witness told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen were riding horses and camels when they attacked the four girls near the camp on Saturday. The victim was alternatingly raped by the gunmen. In another incident near the camp, gunmen robbed five people who were on their way to the camp with donkeys carrying flour. The victims were flogged with whips and treated at El Geneina hospital.
•Three girls, aged 10, 12 and 15 raped by Darfur gunmen
GARSILA (March 7, 2011) – An armed group last Wednesday in Garsila Locality raped three girls. A relative of one of the girls told Radio Dabanga that 6 gunmen came on camels and raped two girls. One of the victims is 10 years old and the other is 15 years old. They were on their way from their village to Targo, south of Garsila in West Darfur. In a separate incident, three gunmen who arrived on motorcycles raped a 12-year-old girl, in Wadi Galanja, east of Garsila.
•2 Darfuri girls raped near Kutum and El Geneina
KUTUM/EL GENEINA (February 13, 2011) – An armed group raped a girl at Kassab Camp last Tuesday. The girl, 18 years old, had been out collecting firewood. The same armed group on Wednesday also beat two men from the camp. People in the camp told Radio Dabanga that the armed group accosted the girl while she was on her way to collect firewood north of the camp. [ ]
Another case of rape was reported in El Geneina near Martyr Airport. A 16-year-old girl from Ardamata Displaced Camp was raped at gunpoint. She was later taken to the hospital in El Geneina after opening a police case at the Ardamata Police Department. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the girl was among four who went to the area near the airport to collect firewood.
•17-year-old girl abducted by mounted gunmen
GARSILA (February 17, 2011) – Seven gunmen riding camels kidnapped a girl, 17 years old, from the village of Torgo in Garsila Locality in West Darfur. A witness told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen abducted the girl at 6:00 last night while she was on her way to fetch a donkey near the village. The witnesses added that the gunmen took the girl southward from the village.
•Woman shot dead by rapists in North Darfur
KUTUM (February 7, 2011) – A woman was killed by gunmen Saturday afternoon in Hilla Goz in the area of east Kutum. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the victim was Hassiniya Ibrahim Kuluk, a farmer, age 27, mother of four children including an infant son of five months. The killers were two armed herders. They arrived on camels and sought to rape her. The victim refused and said she would not comply even if it meant her death. Witnesses said the herders immediately shot her and left her to die. They left her baby under a tree. The witnesses said that village men took her to the hospital but she died en route.
•Two girls raped by uniformed gunmen near Kutum, Darfur
KUTUM/TAWILA (February 5, 2011) – A group of armed men raped two girls in Kutum Locality in North Darfur. One girl was 18 years old and the other was 21 years old, according to a relative of the girls. The source told Radio Dabanga that someone was accompanying the girls as they were on their way from their village of Diliba to the town of Kutum. They were intercepted by an armed group made up of more than 11 uniformed men. The group severely beat the girls’ escort and then alternately raped them.
Another case of rape was reported in El Geneina near Martyr Airport. A 16-year-old girl from Ardamata Displaced Camp was raped at gunpoint. She was later taken to the hospital in El Geneina after opening a police case at the Ardamata Police Department. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the girl was among four who went to the area near the airport to collect firewood.
•17-year-old girl abducted by mounted gunmen
GARSILA (February 17, 2011) – Seven gunmen riding camels kidnapped a girl, 17 years old, from the village of Torgo in Garsila Locality in West Darfur. A witness told Radio Dabanga that the gunmen abducted the girl at 6:00 last night while she was on her way to fetch a donkey near the village. The witnesses added that the gunmen took the girl southward from the village.
•Woman shot dead by rapists in North Darfur
KUTUM (February 7, 2011) – A woman was killed by gunmen Saturday afternoon in Hilla Goz in the area of east Kutum. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the victim was Hassiniya Ibrahim Kuluk, a farmer, age 27, mother of four children including an infant son of five months. The killers were two armed herders. They arrived on camels and sought to rape her. The victim refused and said she would not comply even if it meant her death. Witnesses said the herders immediately shot her and left her to die. They left her baby under a tree. The witnesses said that village men took her to the hospital but she died en route.
•Two girls raped by uniformed gunmen near Kutum, Darfur
KUTUM/TAWILA (February 5, 2011) – A group of armed men raped two girls in Kutum Locality in North Darfur. One girl was 18 years old and the other was 21 years old, according to a relative of the girls. The source told Radio Dabanga that someone was accompanying the girls as they were on their way from their village of Diliba to the town of Kutum. They were intercepted by an armed group made up of more than 11 uniformed men. The group severely beat the girls’ escort and then alternately raped them. The third person managed to escape despite attempts to shoot him. In another assault, an armed group shot a farmer, Ismail Mohamed Abdel Mola, near Rwanda displaced camp in Tawila. He was taken to the hospital in El Fasher for treatment. A relative of the injured man told Radio Dabanga that Ismail was shot while he was working in his farm near Tawila. The source added that doctors were able to extract several bullets from his stomach and back after an operation conducted in El Fasher on Wednesday.
•Woman raped near Kutum; daughter escapes
KUTUM, North Darfur (February 7, 2011) – Two herders last Wednesday raped a woman from Kurgi village, eight kilometers southeast of Kutum. The gunmen also attempted to rape the woman’s daughter, but she managed to escape by climbing up a tree. Sources told Radio Dabanga that the woman herself and her daughter were on their way from their farms to Kurgi when attacked by armed pastoralists.
Witnesses said that the girl managed to escape by climbing a tree, while her mother did not get away and was raped at gunpoint. Sources said the woman who was raped decided not to open a police case. The daughter was taken to receive medical treatment for cuts she suffered during her escape. In a related incident near Kutum, a woman was shot dead when she resisted a pair of rapists.
•Woman raped and killed in West Darfur
SIRBA (January 25, 2011) – An armed group killed a woman last Friday at Kandibei Camp in Sirba Locality in West Darfur. A relative of the victim told Radio Dabanga that woman was attacked by the armed group while she was on her way to cut firewood. She was found dead with three stab wounds on her abdomen after being raped and thrown into the bottom of a wadi (dry river). The relative noted that the murdered woman, Simeinj Yahia, was the 28-year old mother of two children.
•Six girls raped in Darfur
TAWILA (January 17, 2011) – An armed group raped six girls between the ages of 14 to 20 years old in area Dorma near Tawila in North Darfur. Omda Atim, the coordinator of IDP camps in North Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that the girls went out last Thursday to collect firewood. They were accompanied by two men. A number of gunmen came on camels. They attacked the men, tied them up and beat them severely. Then they raped the girls.
•Adolescent girl kidnapped in North Darfur
SERAF OMRA (January 11, 2011) – A 13-year old girl was kidnapped Sunday in North Darfur. She was taken by an armed group from Koro Koli village in Seraf Omra area. One of her relatives said that the region is plagued by kidnappings including one reported recently by Radio Dabanga involving a businessman besides also murder and looting by armed men on camels. Camps of conflict-displaced people are particularly affected by the violence.
•6 Darfuri women raped by soldiers, 1 shot dead
ATTASH CAMP (January 3, 2011) – Soldiers in Darfur killed one woman and raped six others. They opened fire on Mariam Isaag Adam, the 18-year-old mother of a baby girl, near Attash Camp in South Darfur on Friday. She died. They raped six other women, aged between 15 and 25 years and all residents of Attash Camp. A relative of the slain victim told Radio Dabanga that the seven women were on their way to collect palm fronds outside of the camp when they were assaulted by regular troops stationed near the camp. Mariam Isaag Adam tried to escape. The soldiers shot her dead. The soldiers halted and raped the other women.
•Militia troops assault 2 girls at Al Salaam Camp, Darfur
(EL FASHER, January 4, 2011) – Three soldiers belonging to the Border Guards severely beat two girls using sticks and batons at Al Salaam Camp in El Fasher yesterday. The two girls were transferred to the city hospital in critical condition.
•Government troops rape 2 girls in Darfur camp, terrorize refugees
(TAWILA, December 28, 2010) – Government forces stationed in the area of Rwanda camp in Tawila in North Darfur raped two girls, 15 and 19 years old. A witness said that the forces entered Rwanda camp on Saturday, firing heavily in the air, then began breaking into shops and looting. They wounded someone in the leg with gunfire and also killed a donkey. The witness said that the displaced heard there were 200 vehicles coming from Kebkabiya to the area and they fled for protection to UNAMID camp.
Hundreds of earlier reports from Radio Dabanga remain to be added to this compendium.
•Incident cited in “Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support, and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women,” May 2009, at http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/report-2009-05-31.html:
“‘One of the Janjaweed pushed me to the ground. He forced my clothes off and they raped me one by one vaginally. No objects were inserted. When they shot my father, they saw I was a little girl. I did not have any energy or force against them. They used me. I started bleeding. It was so painful. I could not stand up …. I was sick for seven days. No one helped me.'” (2008? 2009?)
•In April 2008 Human Rights Watch issued a starkly damning report rape as a weapon of war:
“Five years into the armed conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, women and girls living in displaced persons camps, towns, and rural areas remain extremely vulnerable to sexual violence. Sexual violence continues to occur throughout the region, both in the context of continuing attacks on civilians, and during periods of relative calm. Those responsible are usually men from the Sudanese security forces, militias [i.e., Janjaweed], rebel groups, and former rebel groups, who target women and girls predominantly (but not exclusively) from Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit, Berti, Tunjur, and other non-Arab ethnicities.”
“Survivors of sexual violence in Darfur have no meaningful access to redress. They fear the consequences of reporting their cases to the authorities and lack the resources needed to prosecute their attackers. Police are physically present only in principal towns and government outposts, and they lack the basic tools and political will for responding to sexual violence crimes and conducting investigations.” (“Five Years On: No Justice for Sexual Violence in Darfur,” April 2008)
Particular examples and patterns of sexual violence are rendered in unflinching detail:
[1] “In February 2008, large-scale air and ground attacks by government and government-supported militia on the towns of Sirba, Silea, and Abu Suruj, in northern West Darfur, led to more than 100 civilian deaths, destruction of property, and massive displacements. In a visit to Sirba, witnesses told UN human rights monitors that up to 10 women and girls were either raped or sexually assaulted.
At least 15 land and air attacks against civilians were carried out by government, allied militia, and SLA/MM forces from June through November 2007 and many of these attacks are believed to have included incidents of sexual violence that were not reported or documented. For example, in spring 2007, displaced persons living in camps in the Tawila area reported rapes that had occurred in attacks by government-allied SLA/MM forces on their villages, prompting some to refer to SLA/MM soldiers as ‘African Janjaweed.'”
[2] “Sexual violence was used during a series of government-supported militia attacks on civilians in the Abu Sakin region of North Darfur from October to December 2006. In the course of a large-scale attack, government soldiers and Janjaweed from the neighboring town of Um Sayalah, which hosts a military base, abducted eight women and girls, brutally raped at least three, and forced them to walk back to their village naked. To date, the military has refused to hand over identified suspects to the prosecutor in El Fasher.”
[3] “Rape also featured in a large-scale government attack on Deribat, in eastern Jebel Mara, in December 2006. Large numbers of militia and government forces killed civilians and abducted and raped dozens of women and girls. One witness told UN human rights officers, ‘they were raped by any man who wanted. Whenever any man came to them, the women were supposed to comply, otherwise they were badly beaten.'”
[4] “In an example from Fataborno IDP camp in North Darfur, a 20-year-old woman described being sexually assaulted by an armed man while she was farming at the outskirts of the camp in August 2007:
‘We were with a group of people about one kilometer from the camp when we saw some armed Arab men and started to run away. One man came to me and asked where I lived. He had a weapon. When I told him where I live, he swore at me and called me a Torabora. He threw me on the ground and kicked me and beat me, then twisted my taub [traditional wrap] around my neck. He wore civilian clothes and looked Arab.'”
[5] “In an example from West Darfur, a 12-year-old Erenga girl described how in December 2007, an armed Arab man in uniform lured her and her younger sister into a secluded area by pretending to help them find their lost donkey. ‘He said if we went with him he would show us. He grabbed me and took off my clothes to do bad things to me. My younger sister ran back to the camp.'”
[6] “In North Darfur, a Fur woman living in the Zamzam IDP camp reported that in March 2007, while she was collecting firewood with five other women and girls, three Arab men wearing civilian clothes riding donkeys intercepted them and asked what they were doing. One of the men slapped her and said, ‘you black people are not allowed to take wood from here,’ and wrested away her axe. The men proceeded to beat the women, take away their axes, and threatened to rape them by saying, “we’ll circumcise you again now.”‘”
[7] “According to a 20-year-old woman who was among them, the men asked, ‘Where are your husbands’ and accused the women of carrying food to the Abdel Wahid faction of the SLA. Then the men proceeded to rape three of the women. ‘They took us into the bush. One raped me, then beat me with sticks and whips. I was unable to walk afterwards. People came and carried us back to the camp.
In an especially brutal case, an 11-year-old girl who left the Rwanda camp [North Darfur] to collect grass one morning in August 2007 with her seven-year-old sister, was reportedly raped by three armed men whom she identified as Zaghawa. ‘I went to [the mountain] with my sister to collect grass. Three Zaghawa men in civilian clothes with guns in their hands appeared. One of them grabbed my sister and two of them raped me.’ The attack caused her to bleed profusely and she required a medical evacuation by AMIS helicopter to El Fasher for treatment.”
[8] “In one example, a Tunjur woman described how a group of women and girls went to collect wood in a valley and were intercepted by two Arab men with knives. The men called the women ‘Torabora’ and beat them with sticks and stones. In another example, a 15-year-old Fur girl reported she was raped on the outskirts of town by two militia men she identified as ethnically Gimir (an ethnic group allied with Arab ethnicities) as she and three women were returning home from collecting wood. ‘They stopped us and told us to get off our donkeys. We tried to run away but they shot bullets in the air. They managed to catch me. Two of them beat me and raped me. When they finished, they took the donkeys and the firewood and left me.'”
[9] “In one case from West Darfur, an Arab man armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, whip, and a stick, attacked a Massalit woman and her seven-year-old daughter on a hillside. The girl escaped but he caught the mother and beat her severely. She said during the beating he shouted, ‘We stopped all the Massalit from coming to this area. How come you dared to venture out this way?'”
[10] “In an example from North Darfur, three armed Arab men reportedly raped a Berti woman and her daughter who were out collecting wood. According to the survivors, the men approached on camels and asked what tribe the women belonged to and whether they had seen any other camels roaming the area. The men pointed their weapons at the women and ordered them to follow them to a nearby village, where they took the mother and daughter into an abandoned hut and proceeded to rape them in turns. During the rape, one said, ‘You Bertis are slaves. Go and tell your men to come meet us.'”
[11] “In South Darfur, two 18-year-old girls reported they were returning to their IDP camp when two armed Central Reserve policemen intercepted them and tried to force the women to a secluded area to rape them. In the words of a survivor of attempted rape from Al Salaam IDP camp, North Darfur, she did not report the sexual violence committed against her because ‘police are part of the problem.'”
[12] “Frustration over police inaction-echoed by displaced persons across Darfur-came to head in one high-profile case in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, in October 2007. A man identified by eyewitnesses as an Arab wearing civilian clothes and carrying a gun attacked an 18-year-old Zaghawa girl while she was farming five kilometers from town. Her mother, who witnessed him harass and kill her daughter, said the man was attempting to rape her daughter when he shot her.”
[13] “One case of gang rape by seven soldiers of an 18-year-old Arab woman in El Fasher in August 2007, illustrates [the] problem. The prosecutor ordered the victim and her family to attend the crime scene-a tent inside a military barracks—accompanied by a prosecutor, a military official, soldiers, and police officers. The inquiry was unstructured and no measures were taken to protect the victim’s privacy or guard against painful or dangerous interactions with the alleged perpetrators.”
[14] “[In one example a] 15-year-old girl who was beaten and raped outside of Kabkabiya in June 2007, police gave the form to the family and instructed them to return it after having it filled out by a doctor. When the family returned the completed form, they said the police kept it and took no further action in the case. In some cases, victims have had to pay for the forms.”
[15] “In an example from North Darfur in July 2007, six women alleged that three government soldiers from a military base near their village raped them. According to one of the rape survivors, she encountered the soldiers while returning from the market on her donkey:
‘One of [the soldiers] grabbed my arm and pulled me off my donkey. When I shouted for help he hit me in the mouth with the butt of his gun. He hit me several times and then tore off my clothes and raped me. When he finished, the other man came and raped me.'”
•Reports continued to stream in the years following the initial reports of an epidemic of sexual violence in 2004 and 2005. Here—off the record—a UN official estimates that “thousands” of girls and women are raped every month:
“UN workers say they registered 2,500 rapes in Darfur in 2006, but believe far more went unreported. The real figure is probably thousands a month, said a UN official. Like other UN personnel and aid workers interviewed, the official insisted on speaking anonymously for fear of being expelled by the government.”
“In Kalma, collecting firewood needed to cook meals is becoming more perilous as the trees around the camp dwindle and women are forced to scavenge ever farther afield. It is strictly a woman’s task, dictated both by tradition and the fear that any male escorts would be killed if the janjaweed found them.”
“Sheikas in Kalma said they report over a dozen rapes each week. Human rights activists in South Darfur who monitor violence in the refugee camps estimate more than 100 women are raped each month in and around Kalma alone. The workers warn of an alarming new trend of rapes within the refugee population amid the boredom and slow social decay of the camps. But for the most part, they added, it all depends on whether janjaweed are present in the area.” (Associated Press [Nyala, South Darfur], May 26, 2007)
•Individual reports of rape cited by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontiers (MSF)-Holland in “The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur,” March 2005, http://www.artsenzondergrenzen.nl/index.php?pid=338 ) Senior MSF officials were arrested and later expelled in the wake of the report’s promulgation:
[1] “‘Five women, 2 young girls (13 and 14 years old) and 3 older women, went to collect grass for their donkeys. The group got ambushed by three armed men. ‘I was taken to the near-by riverbed away from the other women. One man took me in one direction. The other man took the other girl. [ ] The man who took me told me to sit on the ground. But I refused. He hit me twice on my back with a stick. Then he took out a knife and threatened me by pointing the knife at me. I sat down. And then he told me to take off my underwear. I refused, but he threatened me again with his knife. He pulled his trousers down and raped me. He left without saying anything or even looking at me.’ (Young girl, 13, February 2005, South Darfur)”
[2] “‘One of the three man took me away from the other women. He threatened me with his knife by pinching my chest with it. He pushed me on the ground and took off my underwear. He raped me and was repeating “I will kill you” all the time to intimidate me.’ (Young girl, 14, February 2005, South Darfur)”
A hateful racial/ethnic animus is all too often in evidence in these violent rapes:
[3] “We saw five Arab men who came to us and asked where our husbands were. Then they told us that we should have sex with them. We said no. So they beat and raped us. After they abused us, the told us that now we would have Arab babies; and if they would find any Fur [one of the non-Arab or African tribal groups of Darfur], they would rape them again to change the colour of their children.’ (Three women, 25, 30 and 40, October 2004, West Darfur)” (page 1)
Gang-rape is, as MSF has established beyond doubt, a characteristic feature of sexual violence in Darfur:
[4] “[A number of] women described that the rapists abducted them and held them captive for several days and during that period they were raped regularly by several men. One woman reported that her abduction lasted 6 days and she was raped by 10 men. In addition, almost half of the survivors report that there was more than one victim in the attack.” (page 5)
Individual women offer counts of unsurpassable horror:
[5] “‘I was walking with a group of nine women and two men. We met some armed men along the road. They took the nine women and held us under a tree in their camp. They released us after three days. During all this time, I was raped every night and every day by five men.’ (Woman, 30, October 2004, South Darfur) (Among the nine women, only three came to the clinic, among which two girls were 12 and 13 years old.)” (page 5)
•Individual reports by Human Rights Watch, “Sexual violence and its consequences among displaced persons in Darfur and Chad,” (April 2005):
[1] “For example, a thirty-five-year-old Fur woman and mother of five children, from Krolli village, South Darfur, told Human Rights Watch that when the Janjaweed militias attacked her village many of the village residents gathered in the police station, seeking protection. The police took no action. Civilians were held there for several days while the militia selected young women for rape and men were shot and tortured if they protested. She said:
‘Janjaweed would pass their hands touching the heads and legs of women, if a woman has long hair and fat legs and silky skin she is immediately taken away to be raped. There was panic among all of us and we could not move. They took girls away for long hours and brought them back later. Girls were crying, we knew they raped them. Some of us were raped in front of the crowd…. I was sitting with the others on the bare floor, very exhausted, thirsty and scared. Two of them came to me, I resisted them and told them I did not want them but they did not like that. They hit me and decided to rape me in front of others, one of them came to me from the back and started raping me….I could not move after that. Some young men tried to protect us from [rape], they received shots in both their legs. That was very painful and made them bleed, they could not move any more. Others were hanged on the tree naked….It was just killing us to be raped and to see our men tortured like that.'”
[2] This example from Human Rights Watch also comes from a February 2005 interview in Kass Camp, South Darfur:
“When the Janjaweed militia members tried to rape [a woman’s] fourteen-year-old daughter she said:
‘I covered her with my body and prevented them from taking her. They became very angry, they lashed me and decided to have me. They took my tope (outer garment worn by many Sudanese women) off and tore my dress while I was resisting them. They took me a bit far from the group and started raping me. One would rape while two others would guard him. There were about thirty women in the same place…. They took their turns raping me, after that they hit me hard, took me on the floor back to the crowd and threw me beside them.'”
And these examples:
[3] “A woman who was raped by five soldiers when she was traveling to the market at Abdu Shakur, North Darfur to get food, told Human Rights Watch that they ordered her off her donkey. When she refused she was whipped and then raped by all five men. She said:
‘They were regular soldiers, with no rank…. They wore army uniforms and one had a Kalashnikov [assault rifle]. The police have red caps. There were two with red caps but the others were bareheaded. They whipped me with two whips, used by three men….I said nothing, I could not scream. I was raped by all five. I did not report the rape because they were government soldiers.'”
[4] “A sixteen-year-old girl who was raped while traveling from her village to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, described the attack to Human Rights Watch:
‘[I was with] a group of girls traveling from our village to Nyala…. Suddenly the Janjaweed attacked us; they took our money and our donkeys. The majority [of the girls] managed to escape; me, my cousin and my sister were captured. They took all our topes and veils, they left us only with our dresses. We were screaming. I was taken with my younger cousin to the wood; I don’t know where they took my sister. One of them forced me on the ground and all the time I was resisting them….all the time one of the Janjaweed kept his gun pointed at my head. They started raping me. I was bleeding heavily but could do nothing. It was so painful, but fear was even more than pain. Four of them raped me.'”
[5] “The mother of a sixteen-year-old girl who had been raped and then married to a cousin to protect her honor described her daughter’s condition and the effect on the whole family:
‘My daughter screams at night. She is not happy as she used to be before, she cannot sit in one place; she is mashautana (possessed). She is always worried and in continuous movement, I never talk to her about what happened, although she knows that I know what happened to her. Of course she does: I cleaned her wounds after her return every day, but still, talking about it is very difficult. Her father became very ill since that time. He never goes out with the rest of the men and he does nothing but staying inside the room. I feel very bad about the whole situation but there is nothing we can do, God only can help us. Now my daughter is married to her cousin, but where is he? He does not communicate with her or with us.'”
•UNICEF “Child Alert,” page 19, December 2005:
“Girls, especially younger girls, are more easily raped than older women (some reports indicate the rape of girls under ten years of age). The frequency of such rape is suggested by the recent UNICEF report: ‘A recent report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that in almost one in three reported rapes [in Darfur], the victims were children, and a recent UNICEF/UN Population Fund study suggests that the number might be even higher.'”
Individual reports from Amnesty International, “Sudan, Darfur: Rape as a Weapon of War” [July 19, 2004]:
[1] “‘I was sleeping when the attack on Disa started. I was taken away by the attackers, they were all in uniforms. They took dozens of other girls and made us walk for three hours. During the day we were beaten and they were telling us: “You, the black women, we will exterminate you, you have no god.” At night we were raped several times. The Arabs guarded us with arms and we were not given food for three days.’ (A female refugee from Disa [Masalit village, West Darfur], interviewed by Amnesty International delegates in Goz Amer camp for Sudanese refugees in Chad, May 2004)”
[2] “‘I was preparing breakfast when I saw them coming. They started shooting. They came with horses and cars and they were all in uniforms. They killed my husband Musa Harun Arba, I ran and left the village. I took my three children and two children of my neighbour and we ran to Hara, the village in the valley. Then we went to Abu Liha where we stayed for two days and from there to Bamina. The Janjawid found us on the way. Antonovs bombarded us and killed three people. We were many on the run and some people were caught by Janjawid. Nine girls and two boys were taken by Janjawid. They took one of my uncles with his son, Khidder Ibrahim. We do not know what happened to these people.’ (H., a woman aged 27 from Amnatay village in Kabkabiya district, reporting a series of attacks she was subjected to; May 2003)”
[3] “‘When we tried to escape they shot more children. They raped women; I saw many cases of Janjawid raping women and girls. They are happy when they rape. They sing when they rape and they tell that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish.’ (A., aged 37, from Mukjar told Amnesty International how the Janjawid had raped and humiliated women)”
[4] “Rape is first and foremost a violation of the human rights of women and girls; in some cases in Darfur, it is also clearly used to humiliate the woman, her family and her community:
“There was also another rape on a young single girl aged 17: M. was raped by six men in front of her house in front of her mother. M’s brother, S., was then tied up and thrown into fire.” (H., a 35-year-old Fur man from Mukjar)
[5] “In July 2003, the Arabs raped M, 14, on the market square and threatened to shoot on the witnesses if they tried to intervene. They also raped other girls in the bush.” (S., a 28 year old Zaghawa woman from Habila region)
[6] “Gang rapes have also been reported. On 11 March 2004, a report by the UN Darfur Task Force Situation stated:
‘UNICEF has completed a child protection survey in Tawila. The report confirms a host of disturbing findings from the recent inter-agency mission, including a very large number of rape cases, in one case targeting 41 school girls and teachers, gang rape of minors by up to 14 men, abduction of children and women as well as killings of many civilians.'”
[7] “S., from Disa, was raped by a soldier despite being pregnant. She is now the mother of four children, having given birth recently to the boy she was carrying while she was raped. ‘I was with another woman, Aziza, aged 18, who had her stomach slit on the night we were abducted. She was pregnant and was killed as they said: “it is the child of an enemy.”‘”
[8] “In some cases, women who have resisted rapes were reportedly beaten, stabbed or killed. I., a Zaghawa man from Miski, in the district of Kutum, told Amnesty International:
‘At 7am in August 2003, our village was surrounded by the Janjawid; we heard machine guns and most of the people ran away, some were killed while trying to escape. My sister, M., aged 43, was captured by the military and the Janjawid. They tried to sleep with her. She resisted, I was present and could hear her: ‘I will not do something like this even if you kill me’ and they immediately killed her. Other people were also present when this happened.'”
[9] “In order to prevent them from escaping. N., a 30-year-old woman from Um Baru, told Amnesty International delegates in the camp of Konoungou:
‘The attack took place at 8am on 29 February 2004 when soldiers arrived by car, camels and horses. The Janjawid were inside the houses and the soldiers outside. Some 15 women and girls who had not fled quickly enough were raped in different huts in the village. The Janjawid broke the limbs (arms or legs) of some women and girls to prevent them from escaping. The Janjawid remained in the village for six or seven days. After the rapes, the Janjawid looted the houses.'”
[10] “Torture appears to have sometimes been used as a tactic to prevent women held as sexual slaves from escaping:
‘They took K.M., who is 12 years old in the open air. Her father was killed by the Janjawid in Um Baru, the rest of the family ran away and she was captured by the Janjawid who were on horseback. More than six people used her as a wife; she stayed with the Janjawid and the military more than 10 days. K, another woman who is married, aged 18, ran away but was captured by the Janjawid who slept with her in the open place, all of them slept with her. She is still with them. A, a teacher, told me that they broke her leg after raping her.’ (A., a 66- year-old farmer from Um Baru in the district of Kutum)”
[11] “N., a 30-year-old woman from the village of Disa in the Masalit area of western Darfur, told Amnesty International delegates how she was abducted and subjected to gang rape after an attack by government forces and the Janjawid on her village. She and her 15-year-old sister fled when the attack happened but were caught by soldiers in uniforms. She refused to follow them, reportedly accusing them of having already killed children. The soldiers reportedly beat her up and she was taken away by force.”
[12] “K. from Kenyu, aged 15, was reportedly abducted on 15 January 2004 and raped by several men. She was later found with two serious wounds on her head and a crippled leg, apparently from blows inflicted on her knee. The wound on her leg was putrescent when she was found five days after her abduction; she had been abandoned by her abductors.”
[13] “In the same camp two women, M., a 40-year-old woman and N., aged 17, both from the village of Kibbash in the region of Silaya reported to Amnesty International having been abducted and gang-raped by the Janjawid:
‘The Janjawid held women in different huts. The children ran away but some were caught by the Janjawid: they abducted five of them; three boys aged two, four and six, and two girls, aged five and six. The Janjawid took me away, bound my hands in the back and took me along with four other girls in the wadi. In the wadi I saw some 20 other women, their hands and feet tied, who had arrived on the same day. We received some water and rice. During the day, most of the Janjawid left the wadi to loot the neighbouring villages and at night they came back to the wadi where they raped the girls in turn. Some 50 Janjawid stayed in the camp during the day. I did not see government soldiers in the wadi.'”
[14] “S. from Silaya, near Kulbus, was five months pregnant when she was abducted by the Janjawid with eight other women during an attack on 24 July 2003. Some of the girls who were abducted were reportedly as young as eight years old. According to S.:
‘After six days some of the girls were released. But the others, as young as eight years old were kept there. Five to six men would rape us in rounds, one after the other for hours during six days, every night. My husband could not forgive me after this, he disowned me.'”
[15] “Another refugee woman in Konoungou camp, K., aged 23, from Ibek, mother of three children, told Amnesty International how she was abducted with two other women and one man, the husband of one of the women:
‘On the first night I had to endure five men who raped me, the second night I was raped by three men. The third night I managed to escape with one of the others. I do not know what happened to the third women, the wife of I. who was with us.'”
[16] “The husband of the missing woman, who was abducted with her, is 36. His 11-month-old child was killed before his eyes. He reported being severely beaten by the Janjawid:
‘They slit the throat of my only child in front of my eyes. I don’t know where my wife is and what happened to her. It is only because one of the soldiers was merciful that I was not killed.'”
[17] “Girls, like women, have been raped, abducted and kept in sexual slavery. M., a Fur woman from Um Bada near Kutum reported the abduction of girls from the village by the Janjawid:
‘During the attack on Kutum, many girls disappeared. Some of their names are: Hamra (15), Khadija(14), Fatima (12), Hama (10). An old woman called Khadija (80) was also abducted. Those women were taken away on camels and the Hakama saw this and cheered their men.'”
[18] “In many interviews with refugees it became apparent that the differing circumstances of men and women and the gendered roles they played in society meant that they reacted to attacks in different ways. M., a 46-year-old man from Abu Jidad (close to Kornoy) described how people reacted during attacks:
‘Only women and children were in the village, the men were with the cattle a bit further north, closer to the hills. When the attack occurred, men ran up the hills in order to see and the women ran into the village to take their children and flee south of the village.'”
[19] “Women in most cases have described how during attacks they started looking for their dependants before leaving the village. K., a 40-year-old woman from Jaroko explained:
‘When the Janjawid came, they put fire on our huts and they beat the children and the women. I have seven children and six are here with me now, I put one on my back and on in front and the others were holding my hands and we ran. Also my grandmother was with me. On the way there were many Janjawid and they were beating people and we saw them raping women and young girls.'”
[20] “Another 45-year-old woman, A., from Mamoun describes a similar flight:
‘We heard when the Janjawid attacked Kenu and then, before breakfast they came and killed people. I collected my children and the old woman who is deaf and whom I am taking care of.'”
[21] “A. from Khusha in North Darfur said that she witnessed a rape and abductions when she and several other women ran away from the attack on their village in August 2003:
‘A woman had her legs and arms broken and was left on the road. Others were beaten up when they refused to undress and they were taken away to a Janjawid camp.'”
[22] “A., a 40-year-old Tama woman from Azerny (30 miles south of Jeneina) witnessed rape while she was fleeing:
‘After the attacks we ran for four hours to our neighbours who are Tama as well. On our way from Aserny two women were raped by three Janjawid. I was there; I saw it with my own eyes.’ ( She gave the names of the women reportedly raped to Amnesty International)”
[23] “‘In February 2004, I abandoned my house because of the conflict. I met six Arabs in the bush, I wanted to take my spear to defend my family, they threatened me with a weapon and I had to stop. The six men raped my daughter, who is 25 years old, in front of me, my wife and the young children.’ (H., a man from Magarsa in the Masalit region of Western Darfur)”
[24] “Several testimonies report abductions during the flight. It seems that it is mainly women and children who are abducted. In most cases the whereabouts of those abducted are not known. Amnesty International received more than fifty names of people who have ‘not been seen again’ after being abducted by Janjawid.”
[25] “M. a 47-year-old man from Nan Kursei, a village in the district of Garsila told Amnesty International in Chad:
‘The population of more than 30 villages escaped to Garsila and there we were held in IDP camps. In Garsila it is like this: the army barracks are outside the town. Inside the town there is a big camp for the Janjawid, there is the National Security and the Police and then there are more than 21,000 IDPs. The government prevents them from coming to Chad. They want to leave this place in Garsila. The government people said: ‘There is peace now. There is a delegation coming and we want you to go back to your villages, there is no danger now you have to go back.’ The Janjawid prevent people from leaving Garsila, it is surrounded by Janjawid. They killed more than 60 people who tried to escape, you can see the bodies, they did not allow us to bury the dead, the bodies are still there around Garsila.’
‘There was one woman, Rusonga, she refused to be raped, she hit a Janjawid and then he shot her. In Garsila the women wanted to bring firewood and water and many were raped by Janjawid. On our way to Garsila the Janjawid tried to rape my wife. I managed to catch her and nothing happened.'”
[26] “The United Nations Inter-Agency Fact Finding and Rapid Assessment Mission 30 reports on 25 April 2004, after visiting the town of Kailek in South Darfur:
“The women unequivocally stated their great fear of living in this location (Kailek) due to the daily and nightly harassment and sexual abuse of the Janjawid in town. They expressed how they feel ‘imprisoned’ and how the women and girls have been raped and sexually abused when leaving the IDP setting, while the men are being harassed and frequently beaten by the security forces. When asked, the women identified several of the rapists and abusers among the present group of armed elements. They explained how the perpetrators use to come to the setting during the night to abduct girls, bringing them to the nearby wadi where they would be raped.”
[27] “One cultural belief is apparently that women cannot become pregnant through rape. One refugee from Kenyu explained:
‘Some women were raped. We heard about this. But only those who are not married can talk about it. We believe that nobody can become pregnant when raped, because this is unwanted sex and you cannot have a child from unwanted sex. For those who are in the camps in Darfur, those whom they rape day and night, they might become pregnant. Then only Allah can help the child to look like the mother. If an Arab child is born, this cannot be accepted.'”
[28] “K., a 40-year-old woman from Jaroko presented a similar belief, shared by a group of women sitting with her, whom Amnesty International interviewed in Goz Amer refugee camp:
‘If there is any woman pregnant she cannot come to Chad. When we were in Deleij, we were not allowed to move and there are still many people there. They take the women as their wives. This is a big problem, if they become pregnant they must escape, they cannot stay in their family or in their community. Why? Because it is not normal for her to be pregnant from being raped, so she has to go.”
[29] “Although the majority of women who are pregnant as a result of rape seem to remain mostly in Darfur or in border locations, Amnesty International met a number of women in camps in Chad who were pregnant as a result of rape by the Janjawid. K., a woman currently in Konoungou camp said that she was raped during an attack on her village and, at the time of interview, was nine months pregnant with the child of one of the suspected rapists.'”
30] “F., from a village located between Silaya and Jebel Moun told Amnesty International how she was abducted on 5 August 2003 by men in uniforms, whipped and raped. She said that she miscarried a boy some months after her rape.
M. was nine months pregnant as a result of rape. At least three men raped her and she said to Amnesty International: ‘I don’t even know who the father is.'”
[31] “S. a 38-year-old mother of six children from Abu Sin, south of Abu Gamra gave a detailed account of her flight:
‘We ran, I had the little one on the back and two on my hands and two with my older brother. My husband lived with me in the village but was absent when we escaped. We were hiding in the forest and I had only one little bag of clothes and nothing else. For three days I could only feed my children with water. One of my children felt sick with malaria after 10 days and we had to stay there for eight days before the child was stronger again.
‘I was pregnant and I lost my baby. I was very weak but everybody had to help themselves. I was worried that we would all die. Some people who came by gave us food, I could not get up and I could not find food for the children because I was weak after losing the baby. I took mimosa as medicine and after 20 days we were able to move further to Kornoy. On the roads the Janjawid would stop us and tell us: “You are wives of the Tora Bora, we can kill you.” There was rape as well. There is one woman, Zara, who was raped and now is pregnant. This was in Kamu when they came with many cars to the road where we were running to Tine from Kornoy.'”
[32] “M., a Fur woman from Um Bada near Kutum reported the death of children during her flight: ‘Many of our children died on the way. There was no food, there was malaria and they were weak.'”