Sudan summons UNAMID chief over mass rape allegations
November 14, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign ministry summoned the acting head of the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Abiodun Bashua on Friday to protest the mission’s handling of recent claims of mass rape of some 200 women in the village of Tabit in North Darfur by Sudanese military personnel.
“The mission wasted its resources in dealing with a rumor spread by a radio well-known for its incredibility and lack of professionalism,” he said.
Al- Azraq did not rule out that his government would take actions against UNAMID if the investigation launched by the Sudanese ministry of justice found that it violated the law but he didn’t elaborate on the nature of these actions.
In New York, the UN said that Bashua stressed the urgent need for UNAMID to gain independent access to Tabit to follow-up on its preliminary mission to the area on 9 November.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said that UNAMID continues its efforts to shed further light on the reports of alleged rape and to receive unfettered access to potential witnesses and victims so that they can conduct a thorough investigation.
She added that UNAMID is also concerned by reports in the media about the alleged detention of villagers in Tabit and is seeking to verify them.”
On Monday, UNAMID said its investigation team found no evidence proving the rape claims.
However, western media quoted UN officials as saying that the mission said in a secret report to the UN headquarters that witnesses were intimidated by the heavy presence of the Sudanese army during the investigation.
Al-Azraq said that presence of the troops during investigation in Tabit was necessary in order to protect the UNAMID team against any angry reactions from the villagers who were offended by these false claims.
He noted that the number of army personnel who were accused of raping women of the village was less than the number of the allegedly raped women, saying large number of the soldiers are married from women in the village or have families there which refute these lies.
The Sudanese army vehemently denied these rape accusations, describing reports about the incident as “baseless and without justification”.
Social media have extensively circulated testimonies of victims from Tabit, a village 45 kilometers south-west of El-Fashir, capital of North Darfur, claiming that 200 women and minors were raped by Sudanese army soldiers.
UNAMID said its investigation team had been denied access to Tabit for four days but the Sudanese army claims the team was not allowed to enter the village because they did not seek the required permission.
The foreign ministry undersecretary further told Bashua that Sudan doesn’t believe in impunity, pointing the special prosecutor for crimes in Darfur formed a team to probe the incident.
US POSITION
In his response to questions about the United States stance regarding the incident, al-Azraq said the latter doesn’t have the moral basis to talk about human rights, casting doubts on statements issued by the US administration on the incident because “it is not a neutral party”.
“The consecutive US administrations killed thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan and since the war in Vietnam [the US] lost any human basis to talk about human rights”, he added.
However, the undersecretary emphasized that they seek to establish balanced relations with the US.
On Wednesday, the spokesperson of the US states department, Jen Psaki, issued a statement saying the US is deeply concerned by allegations of mass rape by Sudanese military forces in Tabit, North Darfur.
She took note that the Sudanese government recently allowed access to UNAMID to investigate theses allegations, but regretted the fact that initial access was denied.
“And after significant delays, access to potential witnesses and victims was only allowed under close observation of Sudanese security officials’, she said
She added that such behavior calls into question Sudan’s compliance with the Security Council’s call to “remove all obstacles to UNAMID’s full and proper discharge of its mandate including securing freedom of movement in conflict affected areas.”
Psaki further called on the Sudanese authorities to end the culture of impunity by allowing UNAMID and the National Human Rights Commission to conduct credible, thorough and timely investigations and to hold accountable all those found to be responsible.
(ST)