Guinea Rapes Threaten to Destabilize Region

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 13, 2009— -- The world was outraged when security forces in the small West African nation of Guinea brutalized pro-democracy protesters two weeks ago. There were reports that soldiers opened fire on thousands of Guineans taking part in a peace demonstration, killing nearly 200 people. Thousands were beaten as well.

But it was the graphic and public sexual violence committed by the soldiers that has caused the most fury. The shock waves from those allegations, experts fear, will be felt in neighboring countries and could help destabilize the region.

Stories of women and girls being publicly stripped and sexually assaulted, some by soldiers using the front end of a rifle, were rampant in Conakry, the capital city where the protests took place.

Cell phone pictures of the attacks were circulating throughout the city and began appearing on the Web. One witness posted his story on a Guinean current events online forum.

"There were 3 soldiers who caught a woman who was crying," he wrote. "One of them returned a gun in her sex, and they shot."

Jerome Basset head of the Doctors without Borders Switzerland mission is in Conakry. He told ABC News the organization has recorded six cases of rape. "We started a medical treatment and psychological support for some of these women," he said.

More than 30 women have filed formal complaints according to local human rights groups. But it's likely the actual number of women and girls brutalized is much higher.

One doctor told a reporter from France 24, one of the only news organizations operating in the country, that victims are afraid to talk.

"Group rape, rape in broad daylight.…really that is unusual in Guinea… and that is worrying," said the doctor. "They are afraid to come and even we are not very comfortable talking about these rapes because we worry about the consequences of speaking out."

The public nature of the vicious assaults may have shocked the world, but Corrine Dufka of Human Rights Watch tells ABC News that human rights abuses are nothing new to this government, which came to power last December after a bloodless coup.