Pan African Parliament to assess women abuse in Darfur

May 11, 2006 (JOHANNESBURG) — The Pan African Parliament (PAP) is to send a mission to Sudan’s strife-hit Darfur region to assess the abuse of women and children, it said Friday, and called for increased efforts to speed up the peace process.

A young girl listens to women talking in a counselling tent at Abushouk camp near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state November 7, 2004. The camp is home to more than 45,000 people who have fled fighting in western Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, where sexual violence against women is common.

“The Pan African Parliament is deeply concerned by the resurgence and proliferation of armed conflicts in Africa,” said the 256-member body at the end of its fifth ordinary session, held in South Africa.

It specifically highlighted the situation in Darfur. Top United Nations official Louise Arbour said in Geneva on Thursday that rape, violence and abuse remained largely unabated in the western Sudanese region.

“The PAP resolves that it send a mission comprising of members of the Permanent Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability to the Darfur region and conduct gender assessment and report to the PAP sixth session,” it said.

It also urged parties involved in the conflict to respect the recently signed Darfur Peace Agreement in Abuja.

The deal reached in the Nigerian capital last week was accepted by the Khartoum government and the main faction of of the larger of the two main rebel movements, the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM).

The smaller Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) refused, as did the smaller SLM faction headed by Abdelwahid Mohammed el-Nur.

“The PAP recommends that all peace agreements should be signed and respected by all parties, especially the recent peace agreement signed in Abuja,” it said.

The body recommended that the “ongoing peace efforts led by the African Union with the support of the United Nations and others be intensified to secure lasting peace.”

The conflict in Darfur broke out in February 2003, when indigenous ethnic groups launched a rebellion against Khartoum that was brutally repressed by militia linked to the regime. An estimated 2.4 million people fled their homes.

(ST)