Too Little, Too Late: How the United Nations Has Only Worsened the Conflict in DARFUR

The morning began like any other for Hawaye, a young woman living in the Darfur region of Sudan. She awoke early, alive, alert, and ready to start her day. But all of that changed around seven o'clock. At that time, trucks filled with soldiers arrived in her small village, and instantly began burning down all of the small huts that served as the villagers houses. She stood in horror and watched the atrocities before her; livestock was rounded up and shot, the homes around her stood in flames, slowly burning to the ground. The men and boys she called her neighbors were tortured, killed, and mutilated in the streets. In her arms, Hawaye held her baby daughter Nadjva in a desperate attempt to shield her from the violence and brutality surrounding them. She watched as women and girls were dragged away one by one to be raped by the soldiers. Hawaye's husband was away from the village, so there was no one to protect her or her daughter. Suddenly, a soldier carrying a machete approached her and Nadjva, and grabbed the young baby from her arms. He then killed the infant and took Hawaye as a prisoner. She spent the next fifteen days being raped and beaten by different soldiers, traveling with them as they repeated their acts in different villages before she was finally released. She was a lucky one. Women very rarely escape these attacks in Darfur. (Frostrup)