Khartoum vows to ‘remedy’ rapes in Darfur

KHARTOUM, July 18 (AFP) — The Sudanese government has set up a committee to investigate and eliminate rape and other violence against women in the country’s strife-torn western Darfur region, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said.

Suad Abdalaziz, 28, who was raped and became pregnant during a attack by the Jajaweed in the village of Tawila, holds her 3-day-old baby girl.

Ismail told reporters that the committee, which he chairs, “will verify reports (of) violence against women in Darfur and will lay down the required remedies”.

Fighting that broke out in February 2003 between rebels in Darfur and government forces has forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

Militias in the area have repeatedly used rape and other violence against civilians in what many allege amounts to ethnic cleansing.

The committee’s ambitions must now be approved by President Omar al-Beshir, Ismail said, before launching a nationwide plan for “further protection of civilians”.

He added that the outgoing parliament had agreed that Sudan should join the international convention for the protection of civilians in areas of conflicts, without elaborating.

According to some estimates, the combined effect of the war and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises has left up to 300,000 people dead.