Wednesday, 23 December 2015

Boko Haram Victim Shunned by Community for Having Rapist's Baby (Photo)

Aisha Musa has been living in the crowded Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon for seven months. She survives by selling corn meal at the local market.


Aisha Musa with her baby; Credit - CBS NEWS
Musa was kidnapped by Boko Haram militants. They killed her family, and forced her at gunpoint to become a jihadi bride.
"They show you a gun, and then whatever they say you have to follow their command," Musa said.
She told CBS News her captor would lock her in during the day. At night, he would rape her.
"He would go on operations and kill people, and then come home and force me to be with him."

Musa was rescued by the Cameroon military, but the worst of her ordeal was finding out she was pregnant by her rapist.
"I am not enjoying that I have a baby from a Boko Haram man," she said. But she is resigned and there are moments of tenderness between her and her young child.
Musa's story is not unusual. Boko Haram has captured hundreds of girls, the most infamous kidnapping was the 200 Chibok schoolgirls taken more than 18 months ago.

Musa never saw the Chibok girls but often heard the fighters speak of them. Like many of the other girls, they too were forced to marry the militants.

In a double injustice, many are now stigmatized by their community. Girls like Musa are regarded as spoiled goods -- her baby a very public reminder of a cruel and unfair shame.

CBS News/AP