Sudanese FM warns aid groups about meddling

KHARTOUM, June 1, 2005 (AP) — Striking an unapologetic note after the arrest of two foreign aid workers, Sudan’s foreign minister Wednesday warned international organizations not to meddle in the country’s affairs or tarnish its image.

Sudanese FM, Mustafa Osman Ismail

“Organizations operating in Sudan should observe the country’s national security in their dealings and they should not be seen to tarnish Sudan’s image through issuance of false information,” Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail was quoted as saying by the official Sudan News Agency.

Sudanese authorities have charged one employee of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) with spreading false information and arrested a second after the agency spoke out about alleged rape cases in the restive western region of Darfur.

Ismail said Sudanese authorities had investigated the agency’s claims and found they contained incorrect information. He said investigations of the two aid workers were continuing.

The minister called on international organizations “to avoid meddling into what does not concern them.”

“We would like to see this episode ending with a confirmation of Sudan’s sovereignty and independence, and an end to all attempts seeking to smear or tarnish the image of Sudan by some organizations,” he was quoted as saying.

On Monday, MSF’s head in Sudan, Paul Foreman, was arrested and charged with spreading false information. The next day a Dutch worker with the group, Vincent Hoedt, was arrested in Darfur, a spokeswoman for the organization’s Dutch branch said.

Officials in Khartoum confirmed the second arrest and said Hoedt had been taken to Khartoum for questioning. Both men were later released on bail.

The Dutch government summoned the Sudanese ambassador to protest the arrests.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special representative to Sudan, Jan Pronk, said the U.N. also deplored the arrests. He told reporters Wednesday that he backed the MSF report on rapes in Darfur “100%.”

In the report, published in March, the agency said its doctors working in Darfur had collected medical evidence of 500 rapes over 4 1/2 months. The report said more than 80% of the victims reported that their attackers were soldiers or members of government-allied militia.

Sudan’s government denied the claims. However, the U.N. mission in Sudan said Tuesday that in response to allegations of sexual abuse by government troops the Sudanese government “has issued a directive to the military commanders in different locations that serious action will be taken against them if found implicated in such acts.”