AU investigating rape charges against Darfur force

April 5, 2006 -(Reuters) The African Union is investigating allegations of rape and child abuse levelled against its peace-monitoring forces in the violent Darfur region, it said in a statement.

The allegations were broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 and said AU forces had sexually abused women and harmed children in the troubled rebel-held area of Gereida.

"The African Union ... consider the allegations of these heinous crimes very grave and unacceptable indeed, and are determined to take all necessary measures to establish the facts of these allegations," the statement issued on Tuesday said.

Around 7,000 AU forces are in Darfur trying to monitor a shaky ceasefire in the vast region. Tens of thousands have been killed and more than two million forced into camps during three years of violence, called genocide by Washington.

Khartoum denies the charge but the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating alleged war crimes there.

Gereida is a troubled area where more than 90 villages have been attacked and tens of thousands more displaced in recent months following the rebel Sudan Liberation Army's (SLA) takeover of the town despite AU requests that they leave.

The accusations are the latest in a spate of "orchestrated allegations" against the AU in the area, the statement said. The SLA in the Gereida area have been hostile to AU forces there because of their insistence it become a neutral zone.

All previous allegations had been investigated and found to be baseless, the AU said. It was not immediately clear when the Channel 4 report was filmed.

"The allegations contained in this broadcast will similarly be investigated and all those found guilty will be dealt with," the AU said.
Sudan is under strong international pressure to accept a U.N. takeover of the cash-strapped AU force in Darfur, but some officials have taken a hard-line stance, barring U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, from going to Gereida, Darfur or even Khartoum this week.

From: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MCD529867.htm