http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,14658,1264901,00.html"While African women in Darfur were being raped by the Janjaweed militiamen, Arab women stood nearby and sang for joy, according to an Amnesty International report published yesterday. The songs of the Hakama, or the “Janjaweed women” as the refugees call them, encouraged the atrocities committed by the militiamen.
The women singers stirred up racial hatred against black civilians during attacks on villages in Darfur and celebrated the humiliation of their enemies, the human rights group said.
“[They] appear to be the communicators during the attacks. They are reportedly not actively involved in attacks on people, but participate in acts of looting.”
Amnesty International collected several testimonies mentioning the presence of Hakama while women were raped by the Janjaweed. The report said:“Hakama appear to have directly harassed the women [who were] assaulted, and verbally attacked them.”
During an attack on the village of Disa in June last year, Arab women accompanied the attackers and sang songs praising the government and scorning the black villagers.
According to an African chief quoted in the report, the singers said: “The blood of the blacks runs like water, we take their goods and we chase them from our area and our cattle will be in their land. The power of [Sudanese president Omer Hassan] al-Bashir belongs to the Arabs and we will kill you until the end, you blacks, we have killed your God.”
The chief said that the Arab women also racially insulted women from the village: “You are gorillas, you are black, and you are badly dressed.”
The Janjaweed have abducted women for use as sex slaves, in some cases breaking their limbs to prevent them escaping, as well as carrying out rapes in their home villages, the report said.
The militiamen “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”, a 37-year-old victim, identified as A, is quoted as saying in the report, which was based onmore than 100 testimonies from women in the refugee camps in neighbouring Chad."
― stevenbion, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 07:24 (twenty-one years ago)
I imagine the lack of responses so far is not because people don't care, but because they have very little idea what(if anything)can/should be done by the Western governments/people about this situation. That's certainly the case with me.
I've never heard of women applauding/singing about the rape of other women before, though.
I do wonder how much attention Ilx would have paid to the Rwandan genocide if it had been around in 1994. We all like a debate more than just registering a stream of terrible news.
― Joe Kay (feethurt), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)
two years pass...
Is this strictly a race war? Cause a few days ago on BBC
News I saw a crowd of Sudanese protesting any foreign
involvement in Sudan. They burned an American flag, shouted
anti-American slogans etc. but they were clearly black
men. I'm confused.
― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 21:39 (nineteen years ago)
(Let's just ignore him.)
The US has called the violence in Darfur "genocide" but, so far, the UN has only referred to "war crimes" or "crimes against humanity".
Two of the five permanent members of the Security Council - Russia and China - have strong economic links with Sudan. Along with Qatar, the sole Arab representative currently on the council, both abstained in last week's vote.
This is just SO sickening. Profit will always come before lives in international diplomacy. And yes, hello Rwanda again. This horrific situation has been allowed to continue for years in Sudan because of international and UN ineffectiveness. It's very awkward when it's a state perpetuating the violence and they order UN forces out, but there are ways and means. If only there was a political will.
― salexandra (salexander), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 08:22 (nineteen years ago)