http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/african-union-troops-in-somalia-accused-of-gang-rapes-1.1922033
African Union troops in Somalia accused of gang rapes
Rights group uncovers evidence of sexual exploitation by Western-backed
troops
The wreckage of a van after a suicide car bomb explosion targeting
peacekeeping troops in a convoy outside the Somalian capital Mogadishu
yesterday. Photograph: Reuters/Feisal Omar
David Smith
Tue, Sep 9, 2014, 01:00
First published:Tue, Sep 9, 2014, 01:00
Western-backed African Union troops in Somalia gang-raped women and girls
as young as 12 and traded food aid for sex, Human Rights Watch has said.
An investigation uncovered evidence of sexual exploitation of women seeking
medicine for sick babies at what they assumed was the safety of African
Union (AU) military bases.
The 22,000-strong AU force in Somalia, known as Amisom, with soldiers drawn
from six countries, has been fighting alongside Somali government troops
against the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab since 2007. Its donors
include the UK, US, EU and UN.
Yesterday Amisom claimed that the alleged rapes were “isolated” incidents
and described the report as “unbalanced and unfair”.
Human Rights Watch’s 71-page report, The Power These Men Have Over Us,
documents cases involving troops from Burundi and Uganda. Amisom also draws
military personnel from Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sierra Leone.
The vulnerable women largely came from camps in the capital, Mogadishu,
having fled rural Somalia during a famine in 2011. The youngest girl
interviewed was 12 and said she had been raped by a Ugandan soldier.
The mother of one girl who was allegedly raped said she was deeply
traumatised. “People laugh at her whenever she comes out,” the mother said.
“They say: ‘An infidel raped her.’ How can you feel if your daughter asks
you: ‘Mother, I better die to hide my shameful face from the people?’”
Food or money
The report, based on testimonies of 21 women and girls, says: “Some of the
women who were raped said that the soldiers gave them food or money
afterwards in an apparent attempt to frame the assault as transactional
sex.”
In May 2013, for example, Kassa D was introduced to a Somali interpreter at
Amisom’s base camp. “I was worried,” she said. “I wanted to run but I knew
that the same thing that brought me here would get me through this – my
hunger. I had made a choice and I couldn’t turn back now.”
After she had sex with a Ugandan soldier, the interpreter paid her $10
(€7.70).
The AU soldiers, “relying on Somali intermediaries, have used a range of
tactics, including humanitarian aid, to coerce vulnerable women and girls
into sexual activity”, the report continues. “They have also raped or
otherwise sexually assaulted women who were seeking medical assistance or
water at Amisom bases.”
Women reported contracting sexually transmitted infections, mainly
gonorrhoea, after the assaults, and said soldiers refused to wear condoms.
“Several also described being slapped and beaten by the soldiers with whom
they had sex,” the report adds.
Fear of stigma and reprisals
In only two cases had women who spoke to the watchdog filed police
complaints. Most had not because they “feared stigma, reprisals from
family, police and al-Shabaab”, the report says.
Amisom spokesman Eloi Yao said the rape “allegations will be properly
investigated and measures taken”.
Somalia is struggling to recover from two decades of conflict and anarchy.
Last month Amisom troops launched an offensive aimed at seizing key ports
and cutting off an important source of revenue for al-Shabaab, which has
sworn allegiance to al-Qaeda. Last week al-Shabaab’s leader, Ahmed Abdi
Godane, was killed by a US air strike.
Yesterday at least 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide
car bomb attack on Amisom troops. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the
ambush. – (Guardianservice)
Received on Mon Sep 08 2014 - 20:37:13 EDT