Soldiers behind rape
2005-03-07 21:59
Cairo - Women and girls in conflict-plagued Darfur continue to suffer from high incidences of rape, carried out mainly by Sudanese soldiers and militiamen, the international medical relief group Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday.
The group, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, said the wide prevalence of sexual violence highlights the continuing instability in Sudan's western Darfur region.
A two-year conflict there has killed more than 70 000 people since last March, but the overall death toll is unknown. More than two million people have been displaced from their homes.
MSF doctors throughout South and West Darfur states treated almost 500 rape victims between October and mid-February. This represents a fraction of the total number of females believed to have been attacked, the group said in a statement, with many victims being reluctant to report the crimes or seek treatment.
About 28% of victims who sought MSF treatment reported being raped more than once, either by lone or multiple attackers. More than half were also physically abused, with women saying attackers beat them with whips, sticks or axes before, during or after being raped.
Raped while searching for firewod
MSF said 81% of women they treated reported being attacked by militiamen or soldiers, with most assaults happening while women searched for firewood or water outside villages or displacement camps.
"These violations are done by all sorts of armed people, and sometimes unarmed, and they indeed include the (Sudanese) military, militias, defence groups and rebels who represent all of Sudan's political spectrum," MSF spokesperson said Wyger Wentholt said in a telephone interview from Nairobi, Kenya.
Rape is being used in Darfur as a "regular and deliberate tool of war," MSF's statement said. "It is used to destabilise and threaten a part of the civilian population, often a particular group."
MSF director of operations, Kenny Gluck said not enough attention has been directed to dealing with Darfur's rape crisis.
"It is time to end this vicious crime, which is a clear breach of international humanitarian law," Gluck said. "Perpetrators should be prosecuted not tolerated."
- SAPA