North Darfur straw collectors raped, beaten in Tabit

On Tuesday, militiamen raped four women near Tabit in North Darfur in two separate incidents.
Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of the victims reported that the 12 militiamen who attacked the women wore military uniforms.
“The janjaweed on their camels ambushed a group of seven young women as they were on their way to collect straw not far from Tabit in the afternoon,” he said.
“Four of the women managed to flee, but the other three, aged 21, 22, and 27 were caught and repeatedly raped at gunpoint.”

On Tuesday, militiamen raped four women near Tabit in North Darfur in two separate incidents. Five straw collectors were beaten with whips.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of the victims reported that the 12 militiamen who attacked the women wore military uniforms.

“The janjaweed on their camels ambushed a group of seven young women as they were on their way to collect straw not far from Tabit in the afternoon,” he said.

“Four of the women managed to flee, but the other three, aged 21, 22, and 27 were caught and repeatedly raped at gunpoint.”

Um Baji

Two straw collectors in the area of Um Baji, south of Tabit, were attacked as well.

“A group of militiamen seized one of them (18) and took turns to rape her,” an activist reported to this station from Tabit. “The other woman was able to escape.”

She added that the “victim was taken bleeding heavily and in a bad mental state to Um Baji village for treatment”.

Whipped

In the same area, eight militiamen whipped five straw collectors as they returned to their villages in the Tabit administrative unit on Tuesday afternoon.

One of the victims told Radio Dabanga that most of them were transferred to the Tabit Health Centre for treatment.

He said that the assailants stole their donkey carts and the straw they had collected. “They threatened to kill us if we return, as they consider the straw fodder for their livestock.”