Twelve Darfuri women and girls raped in eastern Chad

Twelve young women and girls from the Kounongou camp for Darfuri refugees in eastern Chad were raped by cattle herders on Sunday.
A relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga that the victims left the camp, in the area of Gireida, on Sunday afternoon to collect firewood.
“Not far from the camp, near the village of Oumou, they were intercepted by a large group of cattle herders and raped.”

A Darfuri woman returns home with firewood (Mia Farrow)

Twelve young women and girls from the Kounongou camp for Darfuri refugees in eastern Chad were raped by cattle herders on Sunday.

A relative of one of the victims told Radio Dabanga that the victims left the camp, in the area of Gireida, on Sunday afternoon to collect firewood.

“Not far from the camp, near the village of Oumou, they were intercepted by a large group of cattle herders and raped,” he said.

The victims, between 13 to 17 years old, were taken to the camp's health centre in serious condition.

The incident was reported to the nearest police post. “As they refused to track down the perpetrators, men from the camp formed a posse to search for them themselves.”

The source added that reports about rapes have become more frequent recently, “with no solutions in sight”.