Sophie hears of sexual exploitation of refugees

The Duchess of Edinburgh has described distressing scenes of intersexual exploitation, aft gathering refugees from Sudan's civilian warfare who had fled to neighbouring Chad.

"People are having to speech nutrient and h2o for sex, for rape. That is unit that is being enacted done conflict. It is being utilized arsenic a bargaining tool," said Sophie, aft a sojourn to this conflict-hit portion of Africa.

She spoke to women who had travelled into Chad to flight the struggle crossed the borderline successful Sudan.

"These women person nary enactment but to leave. And, adjacent then, they're fortunate if immoderate of them tin get away, because... if they permission their houses they get killed," said Sophie, who was moved to tears by the harrowing testimonies.

This was the archetypal royal sojourn to Chad and the three-day trip, carried retired astatine the petition of the UK's Foreign Office, was not officially announced until it was implicit connected Monday.

The intent of the visit, says Buckingham Palace, was to gully attraction to the deteriorating humanitarian situation caused by the warfare successful Sudan, which was present producing challenges for neighbouring Chad.

More than 10 cardinal radical person been forced to fly their homes by the struggle successful Sudan, says the Palace, with women and children a precocious proportionality of those present arriving arsenic refugees successful Chad.

"This is simply a quality catastrophe that is immense and Chad is having to prime up the pieces erstwhile it tin sick spend to bash so," said Sophie.

At a aesculapian centre successful Adre, adjacent the borderline with Sudan, Sophie told the Press Association astir the "devastating" experiences that had been described to her and however it had upset her.

"What they bash to the children is... I can't adjacent usage the words," she said.

Sophie had spoken to a pistillate who had fled from a municipality successful the westbound Darfur portion of Sudan, with the colonisation facing threats and violence.

Her lad and brothers had been rounded up and taken distant and Sophie said the pistillate had seen bodies piled up successful the thoroughfare "like a wall".

The duchess, 59, had travelled to this portion of Chad with Unicef representatives and visited a exile campy wherever astir a 4th of a cardinal radical had gathered, with galore much inactive arriving from Sudan.

She spoke to the parent of a tiny kid who had travelled for 10 days to scope information and did not cognize what had happened to her hubby successful the fighting.

"Whilst the satellite and its attraction is being focused precise overmuch connected different conflicts astir the world, the humanitarian situation being faced by the radical of Sudan, which is landing connected Chad's shores, cannot beryllium ignored," said the Duchess of Edinburgh.

This is the latest sojourn by Sophie to item the contented of unit against women astatine times of equipped conflict.

Earlier this twelvemonth she became the archetypal royal to sojourn Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

Her trips person often been to the benignant of destinations not usually connected royal tours, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Sierra Leone.