Sex slaves in Sudan

2004-08-05 22:27

Kour - Young women and girls captured by the government-backed Janjaweed militia, who are accused of a reign of terror in Sudan's Darfur region, say they were used as sex slaves and servants.

Two young women, one carrying a baby, who arrived in the abandoned village of Kour, said they had been kidnapped then released in the middle of the desert after several months because the militia did not want to be burdened by the child.

"The Janjaweed attacked my village, they picked out certain girls and then took us away," said one of the women, who did not want to give her name.

Millions driven from homes

She said she spent five months as a captive of the Arab militia, which were armed by the government in Khartoum to help it fight two rebel groups who early last year rose up to fight for the rights of non-Arab, black African ethnic groups in Darfur.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the resulting conflict and more than a million have been driven from their homes. The Janjaweed stand accused by rights groups and locals in Darfur of ethnic cleansing and widespread rape.

The prisoners were also made to cook and wash for the militiamen, who are mostly from nomadic tribes and who travel by horse and camel.

The two women said they were heading for the border with Chad, where about 180 000 Darfur refugees have fled, in the hope of finding relatives who may have escaped the Janjaweed's attentions.

- AFP