North Darfur: Four women wounded in rape attempt

Four women were seriously injured during a rape attempt by militiamen in North Darfur on Friday. The Darfur Bar Association has launched an investigation into the rape of five displaced women and girls near El Fasher, capital of North Darfur.  

The Darfur General Coordination for Displaced People and Refugees reported in a press statement on Saturday that “government-backed militiamen tried to rape a group of nine women living in the Kassab camp for displaced people in Kutum locality.

They intercepted the women north of the camp, and when they resisted, the attackers grossly mistreated them.

Kaltouma Yousef (19) was stabbed in the head with a knife. Fatima Haroun (40) was also seriously wounded in her head. Hawaya Omar (40) is suffering from spinal injuries, and Hawa Saleh (29) sustained multiple wounds in her legs and kidney bruises.

They are all being treated in the camp.

The Darfur General Coordination as well expressed its indignation about the gang-rape of five displaced women and girls from Zamzam camp, south of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, last Monday, referring to the mass rape of more than 200 women and girls in Tabit in 2014.

The statement called on the international community and the United Nations “to fulfil their humanitarian and moral obligations to protect unarmed civilians, stop the crimes of Khartoum regime and to hold accountable its members for their crimes” and requested the formation of an independent committee” to investigate this rape attempt and the many gang-rapes committed by militiamen in the region.

The Darfuri community leaders also appealed to the Sudanese people “to continue their peaceful uprising until it reaches its goal of overthrowing the regime of the National Congress Party and rebuilding Sudan into a state of equal citizenship”.

Investigation

The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) announced that it began its investigations into the gang-rape of the five women and girls by armed herders near Zamzam camp early last week.

In a statement on Sunday, the Association, based in Khartoum with branches in Darfur, appealed to the victims to contact the DBA lawyers in El Fasher so that to can provide them with the necessary legal aid and prosecute the perpetrators.

Political forces, opposition parties and civil society organisations have condemned in separate statements the collective rape of displaced women from Zamzam camp.

The Sudanese Doctors Union called on “all Sudanese political forces, civil society organisations, the international community and human rights organisations to stand by the victims of rape and demand the punishment of the killers of humanity in Sudan”.

Last week, the Darfur Women’s Group also publicly condemned the rape of the five displaced women from Zamzam camp.