Woman raped, fire ravages houses in Sirba, West Darfur

A woman from Kondobe camp for the displaced in Sirba locality, West Darfur, was reportedly raped for seven consecutive hours on Tuesday afternoon. One of the sheikhs of the camp told Radio Dabanga that “government-backed militiamen” approached the woman, who is a widow and mother of two children, while she was working on her farm north of Kondobe. They raped her repeatedly from 2pm until 9pm, the sheikh said. He added that the incident was reported to the local police and that the victim, who is in a coma, was taken to a hospital for treatment. In Sirba town, in two separate fires broke out on Tuesday evening. One of the affected told Radio Dabanga the one fire completely destroyed 12 houses, while another laid waste to 10 other houses. The affected families are living in the open, without shelter or food or cover. They appealed to the local authorities and humanitarian organisations to speed-up their support. File photo by Albert González Farran/Unamid Related: Six women, including three minors, raped in two Darfur states (13 October 2013)Fire injures 10, destroys 350 houses, 80 shops in South Darfur camp (4 October 2013)Militiamen rape four women, rob villagers in North Darfur (2 October 2013)