Nyarugusu : a refugee sentenced to 20 years for rape

A refugee from the Nyarugusu refugee camp located in northwestern Tanzania was recently sentenced to 20 years of criminal imprisonment, announced on December 17, Philemon Makungu, the police commander in the Kigoma region. Ali Ramadhan was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The police commander in the Kigoma region stated this in a press conference he hosted at his office, to give an update on the security situation last month. He said that the attacker is 40 years old.

“It was the Kasulu court that convicted him on December 13. It was established that Ali Ramadhan raped a 15-year-old girl,” announced the police chief in Kigoma, Philemon Makungu.

The attack took place in the Nyarugusu camp, he stressed. But this police official did not say the country of origin of the rapist or his victim. The Nyarugusu camp hosts Burundian and Congolese refugees.

“At least 67 minors are raped each year in the Nduta and Nyarugusu camps,” said Commander Makungu. He deplored “the serious consequences of sexual assaults on young girls who are victims of rape.”

A young Burundian refugee girl in a refugee camp in Tanzania (SOS Médias Burundi)

The Nduta and Nyarugusu refugee camps, the first of which only hosts Burundians, have at least 2,345 girls under the age of 15, according to UNHCR statistics. They are exposed to early marriages in particular and other types of violence and violations of their rights.

The Nyarugusu camp hosts more than 110,000 refugees including more than 50,000 Burundians, the rest being Congolese refugees while the Nduta camp has more than 58,000 Burundian refugees. Both sites are located in the Kigoma region in northwestern Tanzania, bordering Burundi.

——-

The police commander in the Kigoma region, Philemon Makungu in a press conference, December 17, 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)