Gang rape spurs calls for reform in Ethiopia

Women\’s rights activists are demanding change after Hanna Lalango, 16, was gang-raped on a bus and left for dead.

By Jacey Fortin, Aljazeera

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Inside a gated home on the western outskirts of Ethiopia\’s capital, a picture of Hanna Lalango is framed in a wreath of flowers just beginning to wilt around the edges. The 16-year-old girl died on November 1, about a month after she entered a public mini-bus and was gang-raped by the strangers on board.

Hanna\’s story is strikingly similar to a tragedy that took place in India two years ago, when another young woman boarded a bus, was raped by the passengers, and died from her injuries. That incident spawned a mass movement calling for an end to violence against women and impunity for perpetrators, making international headlines and sparking protests across the world\’s most populous democracy. But in Ethiopia, Africa\’s second-most populous country, the reaction to Hanna\’s death has so far been subdued. Read more