On November 22, 2014 the UN issued a press release hailing the UNAMID for holding "a Global Open Day forum bringing together more than 140 women representing the five states of Darfur to discuss the role of women in peace." According to the press release "The event, convened in El Fasher, North Darfur, on 20 November, stressed the significance of ... special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse...At the conclusion of the meeting, participants presented recommendations that included...capacity-building programmes targeted at empowering Darfuri women economically and socially."
The story is a far cry from UNAMID's sordid involvement in covering-up recent atrocities committed by Al-Bashir's genocidal regime, despite its "core mandate" being "the protection of civilians."
- On November 2, 2014 Allafrica.com first reported that
- "More than 200 women and girls were collectively raped in their village on Friday evening, reportedly by Sudanese soldiers belonging to a military garrison south of El Fasher in North Darfur. 80 of the victims were schoolgirls...One of the elders in Tabit village told Radio Dabanga that the commander of the military garrison...came to the village...claiming that one of his soldiers went missing on Thursday evening. He gave the villagers until sunset to retrieve the missing soldier. 'We were caught by surprise when soldiers surrounded Tabit at 8 pm,' the village elder told. 'They beat the people with rifle butts and chased all of the men outside the village. Then they started to rape about 200 women and girls, which lasted from Friday evening until 4 am on Saturday. 'They also prevented us from transferring the wounded to El Fasher city, the Unamid base, or to Shangil Tobaya,' the witness stressed."
- At the same time Radio Dabanga recorded testimonies of several victims and two local leaders which "confirmed that government forces raped around 200 women and girls on Friday 31 October, when the soldiers were looking for a comrade who had gone missing in the area." In addition, a delegation of five members of the Coordination Committee of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Darfur also visited the village and reported that "after two days of investigation" when they "met 60 women and girls, we looked into their eyes while they told us they were raped by soldiers from 8 pm [on Friday 31 October, ed.] until 5 am."
- Moreover, the Sudanese commander admitted that his soldiers committed mass rapes. On November 3 Allafrica.com reported that "The commander acknowledged that his forces 'committed a mistake' against Tabit. He explained that the soldier who went missing was found in Tawila locality ...The commander then apologized for his soldiers' actions against the villagers."
- On November 5 the UNAMID first announced that "it is investigating the veracity of this information." At the same time the press statement downplayed the reports of rapes:
- "As part of the investigation, UNAMID's Human Rights officers have met with the Chief Prosecutor of North Darfur who stated that not a single complaint about any rape incident was received from Tabit."
- On November 6, Eric Reeves revealed that the UNAMID has "deliberately and consequentially lied about the investigation" into Tabit rapes:
- "Tabit is some 30 miles southwest of el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur and the location of UNAMID headquarters. From el-Fasher UNAMID, were it willing, is capable of projecting all necessary military protection needed for the investigation of serious crimes committed at such a short distance. UNAMID has declared to various news agencies, including Reuters and Agence-France Presse, that their team sent to investigate this ghastly episode in unconstrained sexual violence was prevented from entering Tabit by Khartoum's security forces. This not only bespeaks a crippled mission but is also deeply false.
Darfuri eyewitnesses from Tabit have reported to multiple sources, including this writer, that UNAMID did in fact enter Tabit, specifically on Tuesday at 5:00am. Once in Tabit, UNAMID investigators spoke for at least ten minutes with four villagers at the transportation center in the town. There the UNAMID investigators received full confirmation of the sexual violence... instead of admitting what investigators had discovered speaking with eyewitnesses, UNAMID claimed the team had been stopped at the checkpoint outside Tabit. As the conversation between UNAMID investigators and the four villagers continued, four cars containing Military Intelligence personnel roared onto the scene; those present quickly walked away. They report that having walked some distance, they watched as Military Intelligence-which has long had the primary security role in Darfur-spoke with UNAMID investigators for half an hour. The UNAMID investigators then returned back to El Fasher...
UNAMID investigators, even in the course of a ten-minute conversation with Tabit villagers, were able to confirm the basic facts about the horrific events: that some 200 girls and women were in fact raped (and here Military Intelligence did nothing to intervene) from October 31 to November 2 in the Tabit area. UNAMID was not 'denied access by Sudanese military at a checkpoint': they allowed themselves to be expelled from the scene of what they themselves had already confirmed was a massive atrocity crime." - On November 10 the UNAMID published a press release which denied any rapes took place and omitted any references to Sudan security forces interfering with the UN's investigation. On the contrary, the UN press release found praise for "local military authorities":
- "Village community leaders reiterated to UNAMID that they coexist peacefully with local military authorities in the area. The team also interviewed the local Sudanese Armed Forces Commander. None of those interviewed confirmed that any incident of rape took place in Tabit on the day of that media report. The team neither found any evidence nor received any information regarding the media allegations during the period in question."
- On November 12, 2014 Agence France-Presse leaked portions of a UN internal confidential report on the actual findings of the UNAMID investigation which reveals numerous instances of witness intimidation by the Sudanese security forces:
- "The report by the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur suggests that a visit by a team of monitors to the village of Tabit was carefully prepared 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 UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) report obtained by AFP.
'The behavior and responses of interviewees indicated an environment of fear and intimidation,' said the report on the Sunday visit. '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,' it added. The report quoted a villager in Tabit who said the soldiers had told the community "not to provide information to UNAMID" and that 'reportedly a committee was formed to interact' with the fact-finding mission. - On November 20 the Sudanese government said it would not allow any investigations into Tabit rapes. According to Sudan Tribune the foreign ministry undersecretary Abdalla El Azrag "asked the UN chief to investigate mass rape in countries other than Sudan, underscoring that such practices do not take place in his country."