Using rape as a weapon of war

BY TINA SUSMAN | Newsday Staff Correspondent

May 14, 2006

NYALA, Sudan - The gunmen eyed the 11 women for a few moments, as if scanning a menu. Then they chose three: Buthereina Hassab el-Dama, her sister and their cousin.

"These two men who took me -- one was doing the action, and the other was threatening me with a gun," el-Dama, 22, recalled, adjusting the lavender shawl framing her face and narrow shoulders.

Rape is a word few people can bring themselves to utter here, least of all those who have been through it, but el-Dama's euphemism was clear as she shared her story in the fading light of a hot, Saturday afternoon. It is a common story in Darfur, where human rights groups say soldiers and militiamen loyal to the Arab-dominated government have used rape as a weapon in their war against non-Arab tribes -- a charge the government denies but that is supported by scores of reports based on victims' stories.

Nobody knows how many women have been victims of war-related rapes here, because of reluctance to report the crime, but victims' advocates say the number is in the tens of thousands. The signing of a peace deal May 5 between the government and the main rebel group isn't likely to change that, they say, because of the lack of security on the ground in Darfur.

"In war, any tactic an aggressor can use to demoralize his enemy works in his favor. Rape does just that," said Janet Kerr, a psychologist and sexual violence expert who works in the Kalma displacement camp, outside Nyala, with the international aid group Doctors Without Borders. "It is a very effective way to undermine an enemy."

In a four-month period last year, Doctors Without Borders treated nearly 500 rape victims at various locations in Darfur and said in a report that this was "only a partial representation" of the actual number. A commission appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to investigate war crimes in Darfur, which visited the region three times, agreed and put the blame squarely on Sudanese soldiers and allied militiamen. The commission investigators said there were "far fewer" allegations of rape by rebel forces, who are drawn from the generally darker-skinned, so-called African tribes of Darfur.

No safety in numbers

Of the victims surveyed by Doctors Without Borders, 81 percent said their attackers wore uniforms either of the Sudanese military or one of the country's recognized militias. There was no safety in numbers, the report said, noting that 65 percent of those queried had been attacked while in a group.

"They take the young ones, leave the old ones, and rape them," said Jane Lindrio Alao, a social worker at the Amel Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, a Sudanese human rights and legal aid group. "When we ask why they think these people did this, they'll say that during the actual rape, the man said that maybe he did it because she was a Fur," Alao said, referring to the tribe prevalent in Darfur.

"Especially when you are black, they'll say it is because you are against the government. Sometimes they rape them because of their color," Alao said. "Sometimes because they accuse them of supporting rebels. Sometimes because they just want to."

In the past two years, the Amel Center has pursued more than 30 rape cases just in Nyala but has seen only two convictions, both on lesser charges. Two soldiers had been charged with raping a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old girl as they fetched firewood outside Otash, a camp for displaced war victims in Nyala. The charges were dropped to assault. Each soldier received 80 lashes and three months in jail. The only thing unusual in that story is that the men were punished at all, said Alao.

El-Dama's account is more typical.

Dividing and conquering their victims

It happened Aug. 12 as she was heading from her hometown in the troubled region of Shearia to Nyala, where she attends classes at the University of Nyala. On the highway a few hours outside Nyala, about 35 armed men stopped the van, says el-Dama, whose wide, coffee-colored eyes and dark, glowing skin make her easily recognizable as a non-Arab.

First, the Arab-looking men, some in military uniforms, made the occupants lie on the blistering ground as they ransacked the van. Then, they separated the men from the women. The 16 men were marched off in one direction. The women were taken in another, off the road and out of sight of passersby.

As the others were held at gunpoint, two men took each of the three targeted women into the thorny brush and raped them.

As el-Dama lay on the dirt, being sexually assaulted, beaten and choked to the verge of unconsciousness, her attackers accused her of being "Tora Bora," a term used to describe rebel sympathizers. She thought they would kill her, she says, putting her hands around her neck to mimic her assailant's action. In fact, she begged them to kill her. Better to die than to be forever known as a rape victim and possibly shunned by society, el-Dama figured.

"The man said no, we won't kill you, we'll just do what we are doing, and then we will leave you," she recalls.

In an hour, they were done. They let el-Dama and the rest of the passengers go and disappeared on their camels.

Government denies charges

Sudan's government has denied allegations of mass rape. It was so angered by the Doctors Without Borders report that security officers briefly detained two of the agency's officials on charges of spreading false information.

Wartime rape, including the taking of women and girls as sex slaves to soldiers, is not new, but in Islamic societies such as Darfur, it is particularly destructive to victims. Most resign themselves to solitary lives, because of the social stigma rape carries. Few are willing to report the crime to police, who Alao said are notoriously unsympathetic. Those who do not may face an even worse consequence. If they become pregnant through rape, they may face criminal charges for violating Islamic laws governing extramarital sex.

Amel encourages women to file criminal complaints, but Alao acknowledged that it is a hardship for victims, who battle to be believed.

After el-Dama arrived in Nyala several hours after the rape, she, her sister and cousin went directly to police. The authorities dismissed the accusations. "They said nothing has taken place. They said it was impossible this had happened," she said. Not even the doctor who examined them would admit they had been raped, despite bruises on their bodies, torn clothing and the marks on el-Dama's neck. Alao said this is common, because doctors fear being dragged into a politically charged case if they confirm rape.

A few days after el-Dama was attacked, a relative who had been in the taxi-van spotted one of her rapists in Nyala's bustling market. El-Dama's brother went to police, who arrested the man and searched his belongings. They found bits of el-Dama's clothing, but as far as el-Dama knows, the man has not been prosecuted.

"I get so angry, but what can I do?" she said. "I've started to live my life like before, slowly by slowly. I left his person in the hands of the almighty."

That is probably the best she can hope for. "I think nothing will happen to him," Alao said disgustedly. "The man is probably free."