One was pregnant. Another were mother and daughter, with baby in tow. Seven women went off to get firewood when men on camels in Janjaweed uniforms surrounded them, beat them and then gang-raped them, leaving them naked to walk hours back to their camp.

Rape is practically an everyday occurrance in Darfur.

U.N. workers say they registered 2,500 rapes in Darfur in 2006, but believe far more went unreported. The real figure is probably thousands a month, said a U.N. official.

Rape is a strategy of war.

In Sudan, as in many Islamic countries, society views a sexual assault as a dishonor upon the woman's entire family. "Victims can face terrible ostracism," says Maha Muna, the U.N. coordinator on this issue in Sudan.

Some aid workers believe the janjaweed use rape to intimidate the rebels, and their supporters and families. "It's a strategy of war," Muna said in an interview earlier this year in Khartoum, the capital.

As to the death tolls,

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 civilians have died and 2.5 million are homeless out of Darfur's population of 6 million, the U.N. says.

Save Darfur.