Arab militias in Sudan are gang-raping and abducting girls

by Elsewhere 15 Replies latest social current

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    And I thought I was told that Moslems were innocent victims of oppression. What happened to the innocence and superior morality of Moslems?

    Interestingly, after a thorough search on http://english.aljazeera.net I could only find one reference to this, and Al Jazeera put a spin on the story to make it seem like "the Amnesty report was aimed at defaming the government, distorting Arab culture and driving a wedge between Sudan's ethnic groups."

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/07/19/sudan.rapes.reut/index.html

    Amnesty condemns Sudan rapes

    BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) -- Arab militias in Sudan are gang-raping and abducting girls as young as eight and women as old as 80, systematically killing, torturing, or using them as sex slaves, an Amnesty International report said on Monday.

    Militias known as Janjaweed, which rights groups say are backed by the government, have been fighting rebels in Sudan's western Darfur region since last year, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

    "When we tried to escape they shot more children," one woman identified only as A. told Amnesty researchers.

    "They raped women, I saw many cases of Janjaweed raping women and girls. They are happy when they rape. They sing when they rape and they tell us that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish."

    As many as 30,000 people have been killed in Darfur and more than a million displaced, their homes bombed by government planes, their crops stolen.

    In a report called "Rape as a Weapon of War," Amnesty outlines sexual violence against women it says is happening on a massive scale. It says Khartoum is actively violating its legal obligations to protect civilians.

    "Soldiers of the Sudan government army are present during attacks by the Janjaweed and when rapes are committed, but the Sudan government has done nothing so far to stop them," Amnesty researcher Benedicte Goderiaux told a news conference.

    Darfur's rebels accuse the government of arming the Arab Janjaweed to loot and burn African villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Khartoum denies the charge.

    The Sudan embassy in Beirut said in a statement that the Amnesty report was aimed at defaming the government, distorting Arab culture and driving a wedge between Sudan's ethnic groups.

    Sexual slavery

    The Amnesty report, launched in Beirut and Nairobi, details gang rapes, public rapes, killings of those who resist rape, abductions for sexual slavery, and cases where women and girls have had their legs broken to stop them running away.

    It is based on hundreds of testimonies collected from refugees in camps in Chad. Although the sample of victims was limited, Amnesty said it pointed to widespread abuse.

    The London-based group said rebels fighting the Janjaweed may also have raped civilians, but facts were limited.

    One woman was five months pregnant when the Janjaweed abducted her and eight others during an attack in July.

    "After six days some of the girls were released. But the others, as young as eight years old, were kept there," she said.

    "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."

    Efforts to end the crisis through negotiations are in tatters after rebels stormed out of peace talks last week. They said they would only meet government delegates when Khartoum fulfilled promises including disarming the Janjaweed.

    Amnesty called for an end to the conflict, better protection of civilians, Janjaweed disarmament, trials for those carrying out the attacks and an international commission of inquiry to examine war crimes in Darfur.

    A separate conflict in Sudan between the government and southern rebels has killed around two million people in the past two decades. Peace negotiations have brought it close to an end.

  • Simon
    Simon

    Now this is where some military intervention should happen. Like Yugoslavia, Nigeria (?) and other places though, the international community that is apparently so keen to step in on humanitarian grounds will drag it's feet and do nothing until it's too late and then lament their lack of action and setup committees for next time.

    If only the poor people had the furtune to live on top of some oil reserves, they could be assured of attention then.

  • blondie
    blondie
    The upstream oil industry could be key to the future of the economy of the North East African state of Sudan. Although the country is considered to be vastly under-explored, it has been a producer of oil and gas for a number of years. The country's oil and gas reserves are vast. The downstream oil industry in Sudan is an important sector in the country's economy as Sudan has three refineries and imports both refined product and crude oil. The completion of a new refinery has made Sudan largely self sufficient and able to export refined as well as crude products. Sudan still needs to import jet fuel however.....

    http://www.mbendi.co.za/indy/oilg/af/su/p0005.htm

    Here is an interesting article regarding the oil and gas reserves in the Sudan.

  • cruzanheart
    cruzanheart
    My husband could not forgive me after this, he disowned me.

    GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

    Nina

  • Yerusalyim
    Yerusalyim
    Now this is where some military intervention should happen.

    Simon,

    I agree, but Congress won't. Sudan has been a bad place for YEARS, but no one is noticing. However, you mentioned Yugoslavia as a place where intervention was deserved...On what grounds? The numbers killed there? Saddam's dead added up to far more than in the FRY states. And even with the FRY states being in Europe, it took the US to act there. I don't think the secret in Sudan is oil....or lack there of...because Sudan HAS oil...the issue is the continent..>AFRICA.

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    After Iraq and learning from the cold war, I have concluded that the only way to handle situations like this is to consider it an internal matter and stay out of the country. Have the media publicize the atrocities (embarrassing the leaders), offer aid, and do not enter unless they invite you. Let the people demand change. Let public outcry from the world compel the leaders to change.

    If we enter, we are called invaders... if we do nothing... we are accused of ignoring the problem.

  • Big Tex
    Big Tex

    People's cruelty to each other is sometimes staggering. After reading this, I can imagine why the concept of hell was invented. Death is too good and too easy for these people.

  • Yerusalyim
    Yerusalyim
    Let public outcry from the world compel the leaders to change.

    Nice idea, but it doesn't work.

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    It may not produce instant results, but it is how we won the cold war. The strategy was called Contain and Observe.

    In time it will work with Cuba too. Gradual change from within. Humans crave freedom and over time they will pursue it.

  • Yerusalyim
    Yerusalyim
    It may not produce instant results, but it is how we won the cold war. The strategy was called Contain and Observe.

    In time it will work with Cuba too. Gradual change from within. Humans crave freedom and over time they will pursue it.

    No, the cold war was won because we outspent the Soviet Union...they knew they couldn't keep up...they tried, and it almost collapsed their economy. It might work in a highly industrialized nation...but not for a back water like Sudan.

    It will NOT work with Cuba, the Cuba phenomenom is personality driven...once Castro dies, the Cubans will get rid of the system.

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