Tabit men arrested, army transfers troops accused of North Darfur rape

The Sudanese military in Tabit, North Darfur, have arrested 26 men in an attempt discover who informed Radio Dabanga and Al Arabiya TV about the alleged mass rape in Tabit. Villagers accuse soldiers of the local garrison of raping 200 women in Tabit on Friday 31 October. On Wednesday the army transferred an estimated 150 soldiers from the Tabit garrison to El Fasher. According to several witnesses, the soldiers were moved out in army Rhino trucks. The witnesses reported that on Tuesday, security officials went through Tabit village searching for men. They arrested 15 men in the early evening, seven on Wednesday, and another four on Thursday morning. Relatives told Radio Dabanga that the arrested men were beaten throughout the night. While whipping and intimidating the detainees, military officers asked which people in Tabit had spoken to Radio Dabanga. The interrogators wanted to know whether the Radio Dabanga informers were still around. Several of the detainees were released in the early morning, while others were still kept on Thursday. A military officer spoke to the detainees telling them: “Our commander came to you already on Sunday [2 November] to apologise for what had happened. That should be enough. Why did you go and tell it to the media? Anyone who continues to talk we will take him to the sun [Arabic euphemism for ‘we will kill him’]. UN report An internal UN report has now acknowledged that a visit by a team of monitors to the village of Tabit was carefully orchestrated by the Sudanese military to prevent witnesses from coming forward. During the team visit, there was a heavy presence of Sudanese soldiers who followed the monitors and recorded interviews with the villagers, according to the Unamid report obtained by AFP. “The behaviour and responses of interviewees indicated an environment of fear and intimidation,” said the report on the visit of Sunday 9 November. Following investigations last Sunday, Unamid did not mention any problem during its visit to Tabit, however, the internal UN report reads: “Some of the sub-teams had to ask the military personnel to stop following them and also asked them to allow the conduction of interviews in some privacy”. The report quoted a villager in Tabit who said the soldiers told the community “not to provide information to Unamid” and that “reportedly a committee was formed to interact” with the fact-finding mission. File photo: A convoy of trucks in Darfur (Unamid) Related: Sudan army filmed Unamid mass rape investigations in Tabit (12 November 2014)Sudan security thwarts Khartoum anti-rape vigil (12 November 2014)Security Council doubts Unamid report on Darfur mass rape (11 November 2014)Denial of Darfur rape case by Unamid shocks Tabit victims (11 November 2014)Commander admits to mass rape by soldiers in North Darfur (3 November 2014)