Somalia: And What About Women?

11 December 2008
opinion

With examples of the considerable risk of sexual violence faced by Somali women from a range of military organisations including the Somali Transitional Government, Ethiopian troops, and local militias, Nada Ali argues that much more needs to be done to ensure that those vulnerable within some of the African continent's most conflict-torn areas receive adequate protection from abuse. The UN Security Council's formation of an international commission of inquiry focussing on sexual violence, Ali argues, represents a key step if perpetrators are to begin to be effectively held to account.

'They broke into the house and I panicked and ran and took shelter under the bed,' said 15 year-old Malka (not her real name), describing the day the Somali Transitional Government forces came to her house. 'I came out from under the bed and tried to escape but...I was hit from behind with the butt of a gun... I last remember a man holding my neck as another climbed on top of my body. I woke up to yelling and the cries of my mother...I was not taken to hospital because of the fear of stigma by my mother... I have been robbed of the only thing of value a woman possesses. I feel a reject now.'

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