Crimes Against Womanity: Marriage by Abduction in Ethiopia

The truth is stranger than fiction

In my September 7 commentary, DIFRET: The Abduction of a Film in Ethiopia, I expressed my outrage over the aborted Ethiopian premiere of the film DIFRET. That film, based on a “true story” of Aberash Bekele, tells the dramatic story of a teenage victim of the inhuman and barbaric practice of  “telefa” or “marriage by abduction/abduction of child brides” in certain parts of Ethiopia. The screening of that film in Addis Ababa on September 3 was halted seconds before it was scheduled to start. The director of  DIFRET, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, took the stage and announced with consternation and dismay:

Distinguished guests, ambassadors, we were just told by the police that we have to stop this film because there is a court order on it. We have not been informed prior to this. The Ministry of Culture knows about this and the government knows about this. This is the first time we are hearing it. This is obviously an attack on us and I am really sorry for this to happen and I hope we’ll see you again…

The “attack” on DIFRET was only the latest assault on free expression in Ethiopia by the ruling regime in that country. A month earlier in August, six popular independent publications including Afro Times, Addis Guday, Enku, Fact, Jano, and Lomi were shuttered and dozens of journalists were jailed or exiled. In July, the regime jailed the “Zone Nine bloggers” (named after a cell block holding political prisoners at the infamous Meles Zenawi Kality Prison just outside of the capital Addis Ababa), after illegally detaining them for some  80 days.  In the same month, the regime arranged the abduction of Andaragatchew Tsgie, General Secretary of the Ethiopian opposition group known as Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy, in Yemen.

The pernicious institution of “marriage by abduction” (marriage by rape) in Ethiopia

“Marriage by abduction” is undoubtedly among the most barbaric acts of cruelty in the annals of human history. It is practiced in different forms in many parts of sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia. In its common occurrence in Ethiopia, the young abductor-suitor, usually accompanied by his friends, would stalk the girl of his choice and literally hunt her down like prey. The young men often on horseback would suddenly descend upon the girl as she returns from market, school or walking about doing chores. She may be alone or with friends. Her abductor-suitor with the aid of his friends would drag and load his human prize on his horse and gallop away to a secret location. There she is repeatedly raped by her abductor for days or weeks until she becomes pregnant. When she becomes pregnant, the abductor would claim her as his wife by virtue of the fact that she is carrying his child. The abductor may send elders to the girl’s parents to mediate and legitimize the marriage with offers of compensation in the forms of cash or a few heads of cattle. Though there are other means of “marriage by abduction” such as collusive elopement, they are far and few between. This barbaric practice act has been criminalized in Ethiopia but it still persists and thrives to this day because of official indifference.

Although there are no systematic epidemiological studies of the consequences of “marriage by abduction”, there is ample anecdotal evidence to show that the underage girls who are victimized by the practice suffer major psychological and physical trauma and undergo life-threatening obstetric health problems including fistula. They also face high risks of acquiring deadly sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS from the rape.    

The making of “Schoolgirl Killer”: The real tragic story of Aberash Bekele

The tragic story of Aberash Bekele, a teenage victim of “marriage by abduction” in Ethiopia, was told to a global audience in a 1999 documentary “Schoolgirl Killer” [click here to see the full 50-minute documentary]).  Charlotte Metcalfe, the director of the documentary said the decision to make “Schoolgirl Killer” came about fortuitously. In 1996, Metcalfe made a film about “child brides in Bahir Dar [Ethiopia] working closely with Original Georgis at the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyer’s Association in Addis Ababa [EWLA].” As she describes it, she “attended a four-year-old’s wedding (during which I filmed a distressing scene of the small child bride crying uncontrollably) and followed the nuptials of 11-year-old Nibret.” That documentary was “Young Wives’ Tales”, commissioned by the United Nations Fund for Population and won a UNICEF award.

Metcalfe became aware of Aberash’s case when she saw Aberash’s photograph in the office of  EWLA in Addis Ababa. Metcalfe subsequently met Aberash, and after long discussions Aberash agreed to take part in a documentary. “I then went back to the UK to raise the money to make it.  On board were Brian Woods, the multi-award-winning film-maker at True Vision [a British television, film and documentary production company that has won numerous international awards for its human rights-related films] as producer and David Pearson, Commissioning Editor at the BBC’s renowned Under The Sun,” said Metcalfe.

“Schoolgirl Killer” is at once gripping, engaging, mesmerizing, captivating, dispassionate and compassionate. Metcalfe is a consummate documentarian who is able to tell the tragic story of “marriage by abduction” with sensitivity, subtlety, sympathy and compassion. Metcalfe demonstrates her consummate craftsmanship as a documentarian by simply setting the stage for the various protagonists –  Aberash, her parents and siblings, the parents of Aberash’s abductor, community elders, the lawyers, judges —  to tell their story directly to the viewer. Metcalfe rolls the camera as the tragic story of the institution of “marriage by abduction” is told from a variety of perspectives. Indeed, it seems that the various protagonists in the story are directing the film as Metcalfe held the camera. She does not editorialize or advocate and is not even judgmental, which is extraordinarily difficult not to be under the circumstances. That style of film-making is what makes documentary powerfully persuasive, provocative and even shocking to the conscience.

After watching the film, the viewer is challenged to react; but how does one react to a tragedy whose origins are lost in the fog of history and tradition but must be stopped before it replants its virus and destroy the coming generations of young Ethiopian girls and women? My reaction to “Schoolgirl Killer” was outrage against that institution as a monumental  violation of human rights followed by a commitment to campaign for its eradication from the face of the earth. I do not overestimate myself. As Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund said, “You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.”

Metcalfe is “delighted that Aberash’s story has gained worldwide attention” and turned into a “a major movie [winning] great acclaim and prizes at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals.” But she is “saddened that there seems to be squabbling over who ‘owns’ the story.”  Metcalfe  “deeply believes that the story told in Difret is primarily Aberash’s story” and that any promises of financial compensation made to her should be honored. “After all, it was her courage and astonishing resilience at such a young age that makes the story so compelling.”

Metcalfe also noted that it is “wrong not to credit Schoolgirl Killer with bringing [Aberash’s] story to the public’s attention 15 years ago…  The production team and I worked very hard to turn this story into a film that we remain very proud of and we would appreciate being credited for forming the foundation for the story that Difret is based on.”

It is regrettable “Schoolgirl Killer” has not received the credit and acclaim it deserved in Ethiopia and throughout Africa. In my view, the documentary stands as an enduring and vital contribution to the cause of women’s human rights in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

 The “schoolgirl killer”: Aberash’s Story

Aberash’s story takes place in the town of Asela, the regional capital of Arsi, some 165 km away from the capital Addis Ababa. (But it could have taken place just as easily and as flagrantly in any other part of Ethiopia, including a few kilometers outside the capital.) Aberash is walking home from school with her friends one day when she is  corralled by a seven-man group of horsemen led by Gemechu Kebede, a 29-year old man hunting for a wife. Gemechu and his friends snatch Aberash and spirit her away to Gemechu’s family hut on the outskirts of the village where she is held captive. As Aberash describes it, it was as though she had come face to face with the “Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. Her account of her ordeal is so nightmarish one could only imagine it happening in the days of the proverbial Caveman who would hunt down the female of his choice, slug her over the head with a club, drag her by the hair to the cave, rape her and emerge triumphantly beating his chest and announcing to the applause of fellow Cavemen that he has finally bagged his own Ms. Cavewoman.

posted By Daneil Aleyu Zeleke