SAF leader refuses to hand over alleged rapist to court, C. Darfur

The leader of a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) military base in Bindissey, Central Darfur, is reportedly refusing to hand over a colleague to court who is accused of raping a displaced girl on Monday, 4 February. A victim’s relative told Radio Dabanga that two army officers entered her home in Bindissey at 9:00pm, snatched her at gunpoint and raped her for three hours.The victim says she knows who one of the offenders is and her family pressed charges against him at the police.The girl was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she will reportedly remain for 10 days.On Wednesday, 13 February, policemen announced one of the alleged perpetrators was scheduled to be appear in court, but the local army commander said he would not hand over his soldier.He claimed not to recognize the testimonies provided by the victims, nor the accusations by the police or the court.  Bindissey’s displaced strongly condemned the commander’s decision when speaking to Radio Dabanga and stressed this is not the first incident of its kind. Two other women were raped in the area in the past two months, they said.The sheikh of the Bindissey camps, the locality’s commissioner and police forces claimed to have met over eight times with the head of the army to discuss about the violations and to agree on resolutions to avoid them in the future.The resolutions included a halt in abuses by the army against the displaced, especially women, and the cooperation of the SAF in preventing militias from entering camps. None of them was implemented by the commander, the sheikh pointed out.Radio Dabanga file photoRelated: Series of assaults in Bindissey, two raped (11 December 2012)