In some areas of Ethiopia, abducting and raping a woman is accepted as the customary way to find a wife, writes Nerma Jelacic
Aberash Bekele was 14 when she was abducted by seven men in southern Ethiopia, taken to a remote hut and repeatedly beaten and raped by the gang’s leader. In rural Ethiopia this is a traditional way of procuring a bride. If a man wants a wife, he kidnaps her, and then rapes her until she becomes pregnant.
“He hit me. I nearly lost consciousness,” remembers Aberash. “He was such a huge man I could not push him away. Then he forced my legs apart. He beat me senseless and took my virginity.”
Tribal tradition has it that once the abducted girl has been impregnated, the man can put his claim on her. Village elders act as mediators between families and negotiate the bride’s price.
In return for their daughter, the abductor was willing to give one ox to Aberash’s parents.
Aberash knew her rapist wanted to become her husband. On the second day of her kidnapping she found a Kalashnikov in the corner of the hut. Badly beaten, covered in blood and with a broken arm, she tried to escape. But it was not long before her rapist caught up with her.
Hands trembling, she fired three warning shots in the air. He kept advancing. Aberash lowered the gun, shot and killed him.
This broke every taboo. She was arrested for murder and brought to trial. The incident created a major rift between her parents and the abductor’s family.
“Many people marry through abduction. He abducted her for marriage, not to be killed by her,” said the bereaved parents of Aberash’s abductor.
Even though abduction is illegal in Ethiopia, it has become so common that police turn a blind eye. The matter is almost always left to the community elders to resolve.
The elders in Aberash’s village sent her into exile in an orphanage in Addis Ababa and ordered her family to pay compensation for the abductor’s death.
Her case, however, was taken up by the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyers Association.
“Aberash is the first woman ever to challenge and resist this kind of violence. She represents a revolution against male culture,” said Meaza Ashenafi, the founder of the organisation and the young girl’s lawyer.
The village elders were furious. “After the death of the abductor, we intervened,” said one of the elders. “It shouldn’t have gone to court. We’ve closed the case. It’s finished.”
It took two years of strenuous legal proceedings for the judges to be convinced Aberash killed in self-defence. She was acquitted.
But Aberash’s freedom has been deceptive. Her village was not satisfied by the judges’ decision and its elders decreed she remain in exile. Their ruling has more power than the law.
Meanwhile, the six men who aided Aberash’s abductor remain free.
“Nothing has been done to stop these criminals so they are encouraged to carry on abducting girls,” says Aberash, now 16.
“The courts are not functioning properly,” says Ashenafi. “Girls are not encouraged to go to court. If we had to compare our laws and implementation, then the implementation is a serious problem. If the police can’t do their job, they should be resigning.”
Meanwhile, Aberash’s 14-year-old sister, Mulatu, is afraid to leave her parents’ farm. “I think what happened to Aberash will happen to me soon. I can’t even go to school or to market on my own,” she says.
Her father agrees. “How can we protect our children from these kidnaps? Abductors are always following girls around. They don’t care whether they finish their schooling.”