Women fleeing Mali’s conflict say they were sexually assaulted but silence hides many more | World News
The girl lay in a makeshift health clinic, her eyes glazed over and her mouth open, flies resting on her lips. Her chest barely moved. Drops of fevered sweat trickled down her forehead as medical workers hurried around her, attaching an IV drip. It was the last moment to save her life, said Bethsabee Djoman Elidje, the women’s health manager, who led the clinic’s effort as the heart monitor beeped rapidly. The girl had an infection after a sexual assault, Elidje said, and had been in shock, untreated, for days. Her family said the 14-year-old had been raped by Russian fighters who burst into their tent in Mali two weeks earlier. The Russians were members of the Africa Corps, a new military unit under Russia’s defence ministry that replaced the Wagner mercenary group six months ago. Men, women and children have been sexually assaulted by all sides during Mali’s decade-long conflict, the UN and aid workers say, with reports of gang rape and sexual slavery. But the real toll is hidden by a veil of …
