Sudan prosecutor drops charges against two aid workers
KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 22, 2005 (AP) — Sudan has dropped charges against two aid workers of Medicins Sans Frontieres who had been accused of spreading lies in a report alleging that rape was widespread in the conflict-bound region of Darfur, a state prosecutor confirmed Wednesday.
In a statement carried by the official Sudan News Agency, state prosecutor Mohammed Fareed said the decision had been taken by the minister of justice after Medecins Sans Frontieres “pledged to stick to humanitarian action and to draw its information from concerned parties.”
Paul Foreman, a Briton, and Vincent Hoedt, a Dutchman, were briefly detained and questioned last month after Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, released a report saying it had firsthand testimony from hundreds of rape victims in Darfur, where an estimated 180,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in more than two years of fighting.
The Khartoum government denies that rape is widespread in Darfur.
On Monday, a spokesman for the Dutch chapter of Medecins Sans Frontieres, which employed the two men, said the Sudanese Justice Ministry was dropping charges against the workers, who have continued to work in Sudan. Wednesday’s statement is the first government confirmation.
The Dutch chapter of Medecins Sans Frontieres said that in an exchange of letters with the government, the aid group explained why it felt compelled to issue the report, and the government gave its objections, group spokesman Bart Rijs said.
The U.N. mission in Sudan expressed support for the rape report, and its chief, U.N. Special Representative Jan Pronk, interceded with the government.
Multinational aid groups have said the arrest of the two MSF workers followed a pattern of intimidation against other nongovernmental organizations in Sudan.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has won the Nobel Peace prize for its humanitarian work, has said it stands by the report and would continue to speak out about the situation in Darfur.