Darfur female refugees raped in Chad

2009-10-01

Thousands of Sudanese girls face 'systematic rape' by local Chad villagers, Chadian army.

LIBREVILLE - Tens of thousands of women who fled unrest in Darfur face the daily threat or rape and violence in refugee camps in neighboring Chad, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

"Darfuri refugee women and girls face high levels of rape and other violence on a daily basis both inside and outside refugee camps in eastern Chad, despite the presence of UN security forces, said the Amnesty International report.

The report said that over the past six years more than 142,000 women and girls have fled insecurity and widespread human rights violations in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, seeking safety and protection in neighboring eastern Chad.

Instead they have found "pervasive and systematic rape," blamed in part on local villagers and soldiers of the Chadian national army which is supposed to protect them.

"The rape that countless women and girls experienced in Darfur continues to haunt them in eastern Chad," said Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa program.

The number of victims is uncertain because women rarely choose to report the crime because of negative social consequences, Amnesty said in the report compiled after a research mission was sent to the area between April 25 and May 13.

Most rapes take place outside the string of camps for refugees along the east Chadian border with Darfur but women and girls are also victims of attacks inside the camps.

The violence is taking place under the noses of a special detachment of the Chadian police supported by the UN who have specific responsibility for security in and around the camps, Amnesty said.

The perpetrators are rarely brought to justice, even when victims file official complaints, because of a "deeply-entrenched culture of impunity ... especially when it comes to rape and violence against women," Tawanda Hondora said.

Amnesty said immediate, effective steps need to be taken by both the Chadian government and the international community to address the problem.

The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003, when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum and its allies.

Over the last six years, the rebels have fractured into multiple movements, fraying rebel groups, banditry, flip-flopping militias and the war has widened into overlapping tribal conflicts.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died from the combined effects of war, famine and disease and more than 2.7 million fled their homes.

Many of the rebels enjoy direct and indirect foreign support that helped fuel the conflict, with some critics pointing the finger at France, which has a military presence in neighboring Chad – also accused of arming the Sudanese rebels. France had been accused of involvement in the genocide in Rwanda, but Paris denied responsibility, conceding only that ‘political’ errors were made.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=34646.