Rape, pillage, arson in Darfur’s Jebel Marra

Three young women were gang-raped, 299 houses and 56 storerooms were torched today, in an attack on villages in the area of Golo, in West Jebel Marra. 

Fleeing villagers told Dabanga that a joint force of paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and army troops moved this (Tuesday) morning from Jebel Birto, north of Golo, towards the villages of Birdani, Kara, Korma, Loni, and Tiro.

“They pillaged all the houses in the villages before torching them. They even took the chicken and children’s clothes,” one reported.

“In the village of Loni, three young women were gang-raped,” he added.

“The attackers torched 98 houses, and 18 storerooms containing 406 (100kg) sacks of sorghum in Birdani. In Korma, 72 houses and 16 storerooms with 308 sacks of sorghum burned to ashes. 48 houses and six warehouses with 102 sacks of sorghum were destroyed in Kara, 45 houses, and 10 storerooms containing 82 sacks in Loni, and 36 houses and four large storerooms with 443 sacks of sorghum were torched in Tiro.”

Trapped

The villagers told Dabanga that they fled to the nearby mountains and valleys, west of their villages. “The only belongings, we could save, are the clothes we were wearing.”

They expressed their fear that many of the people who fled may die of thirst and hunger, in particular as all their food was robbed or torched. “In addition, the government forces are blocking all the roads leading to Golo, to safer places, and the water sources.”