[ad_1]
11:11 p. M.
Saturday 20 March 2021
Books – Muhammad Ataya:
“In a desperate attempt to escape the ravages of the war in Tigray, I was beaten by an Ethiopian soldier, he pushed me and said: ‘You are from Tigrayans, you have no history, you have no culture. I can do whatever. “I want for you and nobody cares. He raped me as happened with many girls in the region, and got pregnant,” this is how a girl, whose name was not mentioned, describes to CNN the suffering of hundreds of girls in the region who have been victims of rape and sexual violence.
In a report published by the US network “CNN” on sexual violence against women in Tigray under the title “genocide”, it was confirmed that there is more evidence on the use of sexual violence as an intentional weapon of war in the region of Tigray in northern Ethiopia, where armed conflict has raged for months.
He explained that the women were subjected to gang rape, drug addiction and hostage-taking, according to medical records and testimonies of survivors that were shared with “CNN.”
In one case, a woman’s vagina was filled with stones and plastic, according to a video clip seen by “CNN”, and the testimony of a doctor who treated her.
CNN spoke with 9 doctors in Ethiopia and one in a Sudanese refugee camp, who said they had witnessed a worrying increase in cases of sexual assault and rape since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation in Tigray and sent forces. patriotic women and fighters.
“I can do whatever I want and no one will care.”
According to the testimonies of the doctors, almost all the women who treat them tell similar stories of being raped by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers.
The women said the forces were on a self-proclaimed mission of revenge and were operating with almost total impunity in the area.
A CNN team spoke in Hamdiyet, a quiet Sudanese town on the Ethiopian border where thousands of Tigrayans have gathered in recent months, with several women who said they were raped while fleeing the fighting.
A girl narrating what happened to her told CNN: “She pushed me and said, ‘You don’t have a history and you don’t have a culture. I can do whatever I want and nobody cares.” She told CNN: “She is pregnant now.”
Many say they were raped by Amhara forces, who told them they were bent on ethnic cleansing Tigray.
The women who were raped told CNN: “What the soldiers tell them when they rape women is that they need to change their identity, choose between Amharic or at least give up their Tigranian status.”
CNN revealed that the flow of refugees has become minimal, after Ethiopian forces have reinforced the border in recent days, increasing the anxiety of refugees still waiting to be reunited with their families.
136 rape cases
A survivor of the war in Tigray said that she and five other women were gang-raped by 30 Eritrean soldiers who were joking and taking pictures during the attack.
She said she knew they were Eritrean soldiers from their accent and uniform, noting that when she tried to flee, she was captured, injected with a drug, tied to a stone, stripped of her clothes, stabbed and raped by the soldiers for 10 days.
According to a report published by Doctors Without Borders, last Thursday, the fighting in Tigray, which included attacks on health facilities, severely restricted access to medical treatment, noting that of the 106 medical facilities that MSF visited in the area, barely One in 10 facilities continued to operate and one in five was or was occupied by armed soldiers.
On February 10, the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission acknowledged that the war and the associated dismantling of the Tigray Regional Administration “led to an escalation of gender-based violence in the region.”
A month later, on March 4, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called for an “objective and independent assessment” of the situation on the ground in Tigray.
According to the UN statement, more than 136 rape cases were reported in the Eastern District hospitals in Mikkeli, Ayder, Adigrat and Walker between December and January.
One of the doctors who treated the women fleeing Tigray province said that many of the women who treated them also suffered physical abuse, with broken bones and bruises on parts of the body.
He added that the youngest girl he treated was 8 years old and the oldest 60.
