MARCH 8th A VIOCE FROM A DARFURI WOMAN!

This is a desperate—a failed—attempt to try to convey the voice of a DARFURI woman who symbolizes- at the very last and definitely not the least--:
Production of life
Production of living
Production of us
Production of the antithesis of us
Production of life…


"In May 2003, they dropped bombs from Antonovs on our cattle and on our huts. We were hiding near the village and were going back to the village at night to sleep there until June/July. Then they attacked the village. It was in the morning, I was preparing breakfast when I saw them coming. They started shooting. They came with horses and cars and they were all in uniforms. They killed my husband Musa Harun Arba, I ran and left the village. I took my three children and two children of my neighbour and we ran to Hara, the village in the valley. Then we went to Abu Liha where we stayed for two days and from there to Bamina. The Janjawid found us on the way. Antonovs bombarded us and killed three people. We were many on the run and some people were caught by Janjawid. Nine girls and two boys were taken by Janjawid. They took one of my uncles with his son, Khidder Ibrahim. We do not know what happened to these people." H., a woman aged 27 from Amnatay village in Kabkabiya district, reporting a series of attacks she was subjected to.


"In July 2003, the Arabs raped M, 14, on the market square and threatened to shoot on the witnesses if they tried to intervene. They also raped other girls in the bush." S., a 28 year old Zaghawa woman from Habila region.


"At 7am in August 2003, our village was surrounded by the Janjawid; we heard machine guns and most of the people ran away, some were killed while trying to escape. My sister, M., aged 43, was captured by the military and the Janjawid. They tried to sleep with her. She resisted, I was present and could hear her: "I will not do something like this even if you kill me" and they immediately killed her. Other people were also present when this happened."


“I was sleeping when the attack on Disa started. I was taken away by the attackers, they were all in uniforms. They took dozens of other girls and made us walk for three hours. During the day we were beaten and they were telling us: "You, the black women, we will exterminate you, you have no god." At night we were raped several times. The Arabs(1) guarded us with arms and we were not given food for three days."

“As you have raped me, please don’t leave me alive… kill me with your gun” begged Almina to her rapist. “May shame kill you” was the reply of the Janjaweed militiaman who raped her on July 4th.




“When we tried to escape they shot more children. They raped women; I saw many cases of Janjawid raping women and girls. They are happy when they rape. They sing when they rape and they tell that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish."


"There was also another rape on a young single girl aged 17: M. was raped by six men in front of her house in front of her mother. M’s brother, S., was then tied up and thrown into fire." H., a 35-year-old Fur man from Mukjar.


"Five to six men would rape us, one after the other, for hours during six days, every night. My husband could not forgive me after this, he disowned me."

"A girl who's a virgin is like the standard, brand new. It's like a car. With a girl who is raped, it is like she is secondhand," said Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed, a community leader from Karande village. "If she does marry, it can only be to an old man."



"Rape is used as a weapon to terrorize individual women and girls, and also to terrorize their families and to terrorize entire communities. No woman or girl is safe. It is a very effective tool of war. It is a war crime," UN News quoted her as saying


Mohamed Osman Deraij

(Edited by Mohamed osman Deraij on 03-04-2005, 10:04 PM)
(Edited by Mohamed osman Deraij on 03-04-2005, 10:05 PM)

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