Sudan Denies Darfur Peacekeepers Access ton Investigate 'Mass Rape'
Sudan's foreign ministry on Sunday again denied access to a U.N.-African peacekeeping mission seeking to enter a Darfur town to investigate a report government troops raped 200 women and girls.
A local news website had reported Sudanese troops entered the village of Tabit on October 31 after a soldier went missing and raped 200 girls and women, which Khartoum has denied.
A U.N.-African mission in Darfur (UNAMID) team was barred entry to Tabit on November 4, but returned five days later and found no evidence of the mass rape, promising to follow up with further investigations.
But foreign ministry spokesman Yousif al-Kordofani said Sunday "the government of Sudan decided not to allow the mission to visit the village another time".
"The accusations of mass rape have been met with the strong resentment of the people of the village of Tabit and the surrounding villages and provoked their anger, raising tensions in the area," Kordofani said in a statement, suggesting it was too dangerous for UNAMID peacekeepers to visit.
He added UNAMID had also sought permission from the regional authorities in Darfur to visit the area on November 15 while discussions were ongoing with the foreign ministry about a request to visit on November 17.
UNAMID did not comment on the statement.
While UNAMID said it found no evidence to support the report after its first visit to Tabit, an internal report from the mission last week said the Sudanese military had tried to intimidate villagers as the peacekeepers interviewed them.
The Darfur crisis erupted in 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against Khartoum's Arab-dominated government, complaining that they were marginalised.
UNAMID was deployed in 2007 to protect civilians and humanitarian aid.
The U.N. says 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and more than two million displaced since 2003.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, 70, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
Source: Agence France Presse
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