Inc. Thousands of Somali women who fled to Kenya to escape war and famine face rape in this country Thousands of Somali refugee women who have fled to Kenya to escape the war and famine in Somalia have been raped in Kenya.
Rape is one of the most common and consistent abuses.
Most are gang rapes. Some of the women have had to endure the added trauma and indignity of being raped along with their daughters, including girls as young as thirteen. Frequently, fear of rape deters midwives from leaving their tents at night to deliver babies. In mid-1992, the international aid group Doctors Without Borders temporarily evacuated its female expatriate staff from the camps for fear of rape. Hundreds of women have reported rapes, but that is undoubtedly only a fraction of the total.