Most of the rapes in the camps in the North Eastern Province are gang-rapes by more than one man. In addition, the chronic insecurity in the area has put refugee women at risk of being raped more than once. At the time of this visit, in July 1993, numerous women in the camps in NorthEastern Province had been subjected to repeated cases of rape on different occasions. The UNHCR had begun to give priority to rape victims for resettlement to safer camps. Many of these transfers, however, occurred only after a woman had been subjected to violent rape several times. Bishaw, a thirty-two-year-old Marehan woman, was raped three times by shiftas at the Ifo camp before she was transferred to Marafa camp in July 1993. Although she felt safe there, she told us that she still suffered from headaches, sleeplessness and nightmares.52 She also bore scars from knife wounds inflicted when she was raped, including a large gash on her right buttock that made walking difficult. She had gone originally to Ifo camp with her five children in April 1992, after walking miles from Kismayo, Somalia.
In July 1992 nine shiftas with guns came into my house at night. They were wearing black trousers, black jackets and hats pulled low. I did not know them. They all had guns and big boots like soldiers. They pulled my arms behind my back and tied my hands. They told me not to scream and pushed knives into my upper arms and head. They kicked me with their boots. They told me to give them all the money I had. I traded at the market during the day, and they must have followed me to know where I stay. After they tied and cut me I gave them the money which I had buried in a safe place. Then three of the men caught me and dragged me into my home and raped me. One man raped me while another held a gun at my head and told me he would kill me if I made a noise. My daughter of ten years woke up and cried, and they beat her on the head with guns. Up to today she has problems. I tried to shout, but the shiftas shot in the air and so people ran away.
As a result of the attack, Bishaw's ten-year-old daughter has had neurological problems and chronic ear infections. Terrified by the attack, Bishaw and her family moved to another location in the hope that the attack would be the last. Bishaw, however, was targeted a second time by shiftas in August 1992. "They came back again in the middle of the night," she told us:
This time with more men—so many men I couldn't count. Four of them came into the house while the others guarded outside. My friend was sleeping in the house, as well as two of my children. Both of us had been raped before. This time they did not beat me. They came into the tent and told us to give them all our money from the market. I think they knew me from the market. We gave them the money. After that, two of the men raped me, and the other two raped my friend. Then we heard a shout outside and they all ran away.
"The third time I was raped was in March 1993," Bishaw explained with tears in her eyes.
It was just as I was eating breakfast at Ramadan time [at dawn]. I saw about forty men with guns. Six of them came into the hut and took my money. I didn't know any of them. They were not wearing uniform. Thankfully, they didn't beat me or hurt me—but two of the men raped me.
Bishaw reported each of the rapes and robbery to the police at Ifo. At the time of our investigation, the police had only taken a statement, and done nothing further.
Halima, a twenty-eight-year-old from the Marehan clan, fled to Kenya in early 1992 with her family. During her seventeen months at Ifo camp, she was raped twice by unknown shiftas. The first rape occurred on April 10, 1993, when two men entered the hut where Halima was living with her four children and niece (ages two to twelve). According to Halima, the two men woke her and ordered her out of the house. "I was scared and did not know who they were," she told us.
I went outside, and they told me that if I valued my life I would give them what they asked for. I begged them to leave me alone and told them I had no money. They beat me until finally I gave them the shs. 1,000 [US $20] which I had made working for MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières]. Then they took off my clothes. The one with the gun raped me first. When he finished, they changed places.53
Only two weeks later, Halima was raped again by three shiftas who attacked her in her hut around midnight on April 25, 1993. "They raped me and beat me with the back of their guns and their boots," Halima said.
After all three had raped me, they threatened to kill me if I did not give them everything I owned. I was so scared after the second rape, I went to UNHCR and the police. I told them that I did not want to stay. I had lost everything including my food ration card.
Halima was finally transferred to Marafa camp by the UNHCR in July 1993. Meanwhile, she had become pregnant as a result of the rapes and then suffered a miscarriage. When we interviewed Halima, she had been hemorrhaging for a number of weeks but had not seen a doctor.
52 Interview, Marafa camp, Kenya, July 23, 1993.
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