Beja Congress Condemns Rape of Women in Darfur

The Beja Congress, an opposition party in eastern Sudan, condemns the mass rape of innocent women and underage girls committed by Sudanese soldiers in Tabet, a village in western Darfur last week. Two hundred women and girls were taken by force to the army barracks, where they were all brutally tortured and raped at gunpoint.
This crime has shocked all honest people in Sudan and human rights defenders in many countries.
The Sudanese military forces are accustomed to this inhumane practice and are encouraged by the president himself to use rape as a weapon of humiliation. Often he boasts that girls from Darfur should consider it an honour, when raped by people of his clan. Sexual violence against women and children is practised on regular bases in order to humiliate the people of Darfur.
The Armed Forces trying to cover the crime prevented UNAMID to investigate the case. The local police tried obstructing the efforts of the citizens to open a criminal case against the army.
The Beja Congress condemns this disgraceful behaviour and demands the immediate bringing of the perpetrators to court.
The Beja Congress calls upon the international community, Human rights organizations, women’s organizations and the Security Council to condemn these atrocities, put the regime in Khartoum under pressure to restore democracy, respect the fundamental human rights, and stop raping women and children.
Further, the president of Sudan, accused of committing war crimes, racial cleansing and genocide, must be brought to the International Criminal Court.