Sudan's military denied access to a United Nations convoy travelling to a town in Darfur where over 200 women and young girls were allegedly raped last week.
The convoy, made up of UN and African Union officials as part of the UNAMID peacekeeping mission, was travelling to the town of Tabit to investigate reports of a mass rape. UNAMID had said it was “deeply concerned” by reports of attacks occurring in the town.
However, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said “a verification patrol was denied access to Tabit, in North Darfur, by Sudanese military at a checkpoint.”
Dujarric went on to add,
The UNAMID team was allowed access to the nearby Zamzam camp, where Dujarric said,
The convoy, made up of UN and African Union officials as part of the UNAMID peacekeeping mission, was travelling to the town of Tabit to investigate reports of a mass rape. UNAMID had said it was “deeply concerned” by reports of attacks occurring in the town.
However, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said “a verification patrol was denied access to Tabit, in North Darfur, by Sudanese military at a checkpoint.”
Dujarric went on to add,
"The African Union joint U.N. mission in Darfur is calling on the government of Sudan to grant the mission unhindered access to all of Darfur, especially to areas where alleged incidents affecting civilians have been reported, in accordance with the status of forces agreement."
The UNAMID team was allowed access to the nearby Zamzam camp, where Dujarric said,
"Following a thorough assessment and interaction with residents and community leaders in the Zamzam area, the team concluded that no recent displacement from Tabit had occurred.”"Also, as part of the investigation, UNAMID's human rights officers have met with the chief prosecutor of North Darfur, who said that not a single complaint about any rape incident was received from Tabit," he concluded.