Group: Sudan Militiamen Use Rape as Weapon

In a campaign intended to demoralize and drive black Africans out from the troubled Darfur region, government-backed Arab militiamen in Sudan are raping women and girls as young as eight, Amnesty International said Monday. The Janjaweed, or "horsemen" in local dialect, sometimes torture women and break their limbs to prevent them from escaping rape, abduction and sexual slavery, said the Amnesty International report "Sudan, Rape as a Weapon of War in Darfur."

Citing hundreds of interviews with human rights workers conducted in refugee camps, the London-based group said: "Women and girls are being attacked, not only to dehumanize the women themselves but also to humiliate, punish, control, inflict fear and displace women and to persecute the community to which they belong." The Janjaweed "are happy when they rape. The sing when they rape and they tell that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish," a 37-year-old victim said in the report.

"In many cases the Janjaweed have raped women in public, in the open air, in front of their husbands, relatives or the wider community," said Amnesty International, adding that rape survivors can face further stigma and marginalization from their own communities. The group also noted that women in Darfur who have undergone female genital mutilation are at a significantly higher risk of injury and HIV/STD infection.

On Saturday, the government ordered that committees of women judges, police and legal consultants investigate rape claims and help Darfur victims in prosecuting crimes.

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