200 Raped- The World Must Speak Up for the Women of Darfur

On Friday, October 31st the residents of Tabit were terrorized by government soldiers from the nearby military garrison south of El Fasher in Northern Darfur.

The solders first arrived in town on Friday morning. The commander falsely accused the citizens of kidnapping one of his soldiers and gave the town until evening to return him. The men and women of Tabit were not prepared for the night of horror which was to come.

The government soldiers returned at 8pm that night. They beat the civilians with the butts of their rifles and chased all of the men out of the village. The soldiers stayed until 4 am the next morning, raping approximately 200 women and girls. 80 of their victims were school girls, 105 of them were girls who were unmarried, while the rest were women who were married.

The men were only allowed back into the village after the soldiers had left, leaving behind dozens of wounded in desperate need of medical attention. The residents, however, have not yet been able to transfer their wounded to other towns or to medical centers. Therefore they are unable to leave Tabit, trapped without medical attention and surrounded by the worst night of their lives.

Darfur Womens Action Group condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the terrible criminal action of these soldiers and the government of Sudan who allows them to continue to rampage without regard for basic international human rights. We demand accountability for the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes.

We call upon the international community, the UN but also individual governments around the world. They must help the victims of Darfur, who have been suffering for the past 10 years, living in constant fear. The international community must also hold the Sudanese government, and the soldiers, accountable for their actions. The world can no longer look the other way while innocent lives are ruined forever.

This inhumane act against women demonstrates the fact that because of the impunity for previous crimes as well as the silence and inaction of the international community, these horrific crimes have continued. This is inhumane and intolerable. If world leaders are failing their responsibility to protect, then we the citizens must not remain silent.

We must unite our voices to denounce this cruel act of brutality and demand protection and justice for the women of Darfur.