عاجل : هيومان رايتس واتش تؤكد حدوث حالات إغتصاب في قرية ثابت من الجيش السوداني

--Summary
Over the course of 36 hours beginning on October 30, 2014, Sudanese army troops carried
out a series of attacks against the civilian population of the town of Tabit in North Darfur,
Sudan. The attacks included the mass rape of women and girls and the arbitrary detention,
beating and ill-treatment of scores of people. The government of Sudan has denied that
any crimes occurred and has prevented the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation
in Darfur (UNAMID) from carrying out a credible investigation of the incident.
From research conducted remotely in November and December 2014, this report
documents 27 first-hand accounts of rape, often by multiple perpetrators, and credible
information about an additional 194 incidents of rape. Based on more than 130 interviews,
the report provides a detailed account of the serious violations of international law that
took place in Tabit from October 30 to November 1.
Sudanese government forces carried out the rapes and other abuses during three distinct
military operations against the town during the 36-hour period: the first beginning the
evening of Thursday, October 30; the second on the morning of Friday, October 31; and the
third starting that evening and continuing until the following morning, November 1. Human
Rights Watch found no evidence of a presence of any rebel force in the town immediately
prior to or during the attacks.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that during each of these attacks, government
soldiers went house-to-house in Tabit, searching houses, #####ng property, severely
beating residents, and raping women and girls. On the two nights, soldiers forced many of
the men to outdoor locations on the outskirts of the town, leaving the women and children
especially vulnerable. The soldiers detained the men en masse, and threatened and
physically abused them throughout the night.
Residents recognized some of the soldiers as among those stationed at the Sudanese
Armed Forces (SAF) base on the outskirts of Tabit. Two soldiers who later defected to a
rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid, told Human Rights Watch that other
soldiers came from bases in El Fasher, the North Darfur capital 55 kilometers northeast of
Tabit, and from Khartoum.
MASS RAPE IN DARFUR 2
The aims of the military operations against Tabit are unclear. Numerous residents told
Human Rights Watch that government soldiers entering their homes said that they were
looking for a soldier who had been abducted and to punish his captors. One soldier who
later defected told Human Rights Watch that they had been ordered to search for and
punish rebel supporters in the town because of information that rebel forces deployed
outside the town were planning to attack the SAF base. Two soldiers who had participated
in the operations said that superior officers had ordered them to “rape women” because
the women were rebel supporters.
Rape and other serious abuses against civilians in Tabit are serious violations of
international humanitarian law (the laws of war) and international human rights law.
Military personnel who participated in, aided or abetted, or ordered rape are responsible
for war crimes. Commanding officers who knew or should have known of the mass rape –
and took no action to prevent it or punish those responsible – are criminally liable as a
matter of command responsibility.
The mass rape of women and girls in Tabit may amount to crimes against humanity. Crimes
against humanity are serious offenses, including murder, torture and rape, committed as
part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population. As Human Rights Watch
research has found, the rape was on a large scale and thus could be considered
widespread. It was carried out in multiple locations at the same time during the course of
three successive attacks on the civilians in the town, indicating it was systematic.
Since the attacks, Sudanese government officials, military commanders, and traditional
leaders responsible for Tabit have taken drastic measures to prevent information about the
rapes and other abuses from becoming public. They have threatened, intimidated, beaten,
detained, and tortured residents of Tabit to prevent them from speaking out about what
took place. The authorities have also repeatedly denied UNAMID and other investigators
access to the town.
The Sudanese government-appointed Special Prosecutor for Crimes in Darfur visited Tabit
on November 20; but amid a large government presence residents were too afraid to report
what had occurred and he concluded that no crimes had been committed.
3 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2015
Most of the rape victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were unable or
unwilling to be treated at Tabit’s limited medical facilities because they feared arrest and
further physical abuse by government officials.
Although UNAMID’s mandate includes the protection of civilians, it has not been able to
undertake a credible investigation of the incident. On November 9, a UNAMID Integrated
Field Mission visited Tabit for several hours, and, the following day the mission said in a
statement it found no evidence to support the allegations of mass rape but failed to
mention that UNAMID staff members were in the town in the presence of government
security officials. Since then, UNAMID’s numerous attempts to obtain permission to enter
Tabit have been rejected by the government.
The UNAMID statement and Sudan’s denials that crimes had occurred have contributed to
the UN Security Council’s failure to ensure a strong international response to the incident,
with Russia adopting the position that no crimes occurred. The African Union’s Peace and
Security Council has also failed to respond publicly.
The Tabit atrocities demonstrate the continuing and urgent need for a professional and
independent force that can help protect civilian populations in Darfur from attack. It also
underscores the reality that the current UNAMID force has been hamstrung in its
performance and in the implementation of its core mandate.
The UN and AU’s current review of UNAMID should focus on how to urgently improve and
bolster the ability of UNAMID to protect people from the kinds of attacks that occurred in
Tabit, and effectively investigate human rights abuses without endangering victims and
witnesses.
The exact number of women and girls who were raped or subjected to sexual violence by
Sudanese military personnel in Tabit will not be known until independent and impartial
investigators with expertise in sexual and gender-based crimes are granted unfettered
access to Tabit and town residents feel safe to share their experiences without fear of
retaliation.
Human Rights Watch calls on the UN Security Council, the AU Peace and Security Council,
and UNAMID to take concrete steps to protect civilians in Darfur from further abuse, ensure
MASS RAPE IN DARFUR 4
access to medical care for victims, and see that those responsible for crimes in violation of
international law are brought to justice.----

==Methodology
A Human Rights Watch researcher conducted the research for this report in November and
December 2014. The report documents 27 first-hand accounts of rape, often by multiple
perpetrators, and credible information about an additional 194 incidents of rape.
Based on more than 130 interviews, including with over 50 current and former residents of
Tabit, the report provides a detailed account of the serious violations of international law
that took place in Tabit from October 30 to November 1, 2014. Sudanese investigators and
researchers provided additional research support.
Human Rights Watch was not able to visit Tabit due to government restrictions on access.
Several intermediaries in Sudan, including residents of Tabit helped to identify and contact
interviewees.
All the interviews were conducted by telephone with the assistance of an interpreter who is
fluent in English, Arabic, and Fur.
Interviews were conducted individually and generally lasted from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
The interviewees included 17 women and a girl (15 of whom described being raped), 10
men who suffered abuses, 8 men and 1 woman who witnessed abuses other than rape,
and 9 people who visited Tabit shortly after the attacks. Human Rights Watch also
interviewed four soldiers who defected from the government battalion stationed in Tabit,
including three who participated in the attack.
Interviewees were fully informed about the nature and purpose of the research and how
the information they provided would be used. Human Rights Watch obtained oral consent
for each of the interviews. No incentives were provided to individuals in exchange for their
testimonies.
Those interviewed described a continuing climate of fear in Tabit. Most told Human Rights
Watch that they were afraid of beatings, imprisonment and even execution by government
authorities if identified as having spoken to Human Rights Watch. All names, precise ages,
MASS RAPE IN DARFUR 8
neighborhoods, and other identifying details have been withheld in this report for security
reasons. Names have been replaced with pseudonyms.
Despite the climate of fear, we were able to cross-reference and verify many individual
cases and allegations. While this report documents some of the abuses perpetrated by
government forces during the 36-hour period, only a thorough investigation that is
independent of the government of Sudan, with full access to Tabit and protection for
victims and witnesses would be able to fully unearth the details of the events of October
30 to November 1.
Human Rights Watch collected 221 names of women and girls who were allegedly raped in
Tabit from October 30 to November 1, 2014. These names were gathered from broadly three
categories of sources, all of whom spoke directly with Human Rights Watch:
(1) Victims and witnesses: Fifteen female rape victims and one female witness provided
the names of 12 other women whom they witnessed being raped, making for 27 named
victims altogether.
(2) Residents: Thirty five residents of Tabit provided 119 additional names. These residents
gathered 92 names directly from rape victims and 27 names from the family members,
friends, or neighbors of rape victims.
(3) Other investigations: Three Sudanese groups that conducted their own investigations
provided 75 additional names. Two of these groups were composed of representatives
from internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur; the other was composed of
representatives from a Darfurian diaspora organization. The three groups, which each
visited Tabit for two or three days in the week immediately following the attacks,
subsequently shared their findings with Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch
spoke directly to at least one member of each of the three investigation committees of
the groups. These three committees reported that they gathered 31 names directly from
rape victims and 44 names from the family members, friends, or neighbors of rape
victims.
Fifty-one of the accounts provided by the local investigation committees corroborated
accounts given independently to Human Rights Watch by victims or other residents of Tabit.
Names were also cross-checked to avoid duplication.
9 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2015
Based on all the available evidence, Human Rights Watch was able to directly document
the accounts of least 27 women and girls who were raped, and has credible information
about another 194 alleged incidents of rape.====