sexually assaulted - The African Mirror

Jul

2023

‘Alarming’ rise in rape and abduction from Sudan war, aid agencies say

THE conflict between military factions in Sudan has caused a surge in cases of rape and the abduction of women and girls, some as young as 12, aid agencies and officials said. Teenage girls are being sexually assaulted and raped by armed combatants in "alarming numbers", Save the Children said in a statement on Friday, while the United Nations reported a "marked increase" in gender-based violence. The war that erupted on April 15 pits Sudan's army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who fell out over plans for a political transition towards civilian rule. Fighting has been concentrated in…

May

2023

By DJAFFAR SABITI

DRC rape scandal: survivors speak

NEWS

FOUR men with machetes were hard on their heels as a group of women raced through the dense forest surrounding east Congo's city of Goma, desperate to reach a displacement camp they had left to collect firewood. One tripped on a stone and fell. She had no time to react before one of the men caught up. "He raped me," she recalled two weeks later in Bulengo, one of several camps near Goma sheltering about 600,000 people that have fled conflict zones. "He told me that if I screamed he would kill me," she said. "I felt dirty." The 35-year-old…

May

2023

By EDWARD MCALLISTER

Malian troops, foreign forces executed 500 people in village in 2022 – UN

NEWS

MALIAN soldiers and unidentified "armed white men" likely executed at least 500 people, and sexually assaulted or tortured dozens of others during a five-day operation in the village of Moura in central Mali last year, the U.N. Human Rights Office said. On March 27, 2022, Malian soldiers and foreign personnel descended in helicopters and opened fire on fleeing residents, the report said. In a roundup of civilians in the following days, hundreds more were shot and thrown in ditches. The U.N. report on the incident was released after a months-long investigation into what rights groups say is the worst atrocity…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Trump rape accuser’s case not a ‘he said, she said,’ lawyer says as trial starts

WORLD

LUC COHEN, JACK QUEEN and JONATHAN STEMPEL E. Jean Carroll's accusation that Donald Trump raped her was not a "he said, she said" dispute, a lawyer representing the writer told jurors as a civil trial over the former U.S. president's conduct nearly three decades ago got underway. Shawn Crowley, who represents the former Elle magazine advice columnist, said in her opening statement that Trump "slammed Ms Carroll against the wall" and "pressed his lips to hers," an account other witnesses were prepared to verify. "This is not a 'he said, she said' case," Crowley said in federal court in Manhattan.…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Survivor, son face discrimination in Nigeria

NEWS

SAM OLUKOYA SANDRA* had a baby born of rape. The young Nigeria woman had plans for a better life in Europe, but when her ‘recruiters’ abandoned her in Libya she was sexually assaulted and abused. But after being deported back to Nigeria Sandra and her young son face daily discrimination and abuse about the boy’s parentage, even from her own mother and friends. She shares with IPS the effect this verbal abuse has had on her little boy and the impact on her mental health. “I feel bad, I feel bad a lot. I feel very terrible for what my…