Gang-rape, beatings, robberies in Kutum, North Darfur

A group of militiamen gang raped a girl (15) of Kassab camp for the displaced in Kutum locality on Sunday. In two separate incidents, other Kassab camp displaced were beaten and robbed, and a vehicle belonging to the North Darfur Ministry of Health was stolen from Kutum Hospital.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a Kassab camp activist reported that militiamen riding on camels attacked four young women who were collecting firewood and straw five kilometres north of the camp.

“They beat three of the women with their whips, and kept them silent at gunpoint, while they seized the fourth, and raped her alternately,” she said.

“The victim was transferred, severely bleeding and in a bad mental state, to a health clinic in the vicinity.”

The source appealed to humanitarian organisations to provide alternative means to cook on, so that the displaced will not have to go out to collect firewood anymore. She also pointed to the need to set up small businesses projects for the women in the camp.

Robbery

Other Kassab camp residents were intercepted by militiamen on the same day, when they were collecting firewood southwest of the camp.

“They beat and whipped them, and robbed them of their money, mobile phones, three donkey carts, and the axes and ropes used for collecting the wood,” a camp elder said.

Hijack

In Kutum town, gunmen entered the premises of Kutum Hospital on Sunday evening. One of the guards told Radio Dabanga that “a group of gunmen took a double-cabin vehicle belong to the Ministry of Health at gunpoint, and headed northwards”.