On October 31st, 200 women and girls (some as young as 7) in Darfur were raped. Locals say the attacks were carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
Rape has been a weapon of genocide in Darfur for years, as documented regularly on the reputable local media outlet, Radio Dabanga. This attack in the village of Tabit however, is on an unprecedented scale. Despite numerous sources verifying it, the discredited hybrid UN/AU force (UNAMID) issued a press release claiming, “None of those interviewed confirmed that any incident of rape took place in Tabit on the day of that media report”.
What the press release neglected to mention is that, according to a UNAMID officer, national security staff, police forces, and military personnel accompanied the UNAMID delegation so, “No one could speak freely to anyone”.
The Coordination Committee of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Darfur sent a delegation to Tabit in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. They spent 2 days interviewing women and girls and reported, “We looked into their eyes while they told us they were raped by soldiers”.
UNAMID’s handling of, what has been confirmed by numerous sources to be mass rape, has been marred by incompetence and complicity. Its chicanery emerges at the same time that a UN investigation exonerated the force of allegations of cover up. Sort of. It found that there were instances in which UNAMID officials withheld evidence indicating the culpability of Sudanese government forces in crimes against civilians and peacekeepers. It also concluded that UNAMID self-censored their reporting on Sudanese abuses, leading to "under-reporting of incidents when government and pro-government forces were suspected to be involved".
More on this story on Sunday. Watch this space.
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