Sudan arrests aid agency head for report on rapes

KHARTOUM - Sudan has arrested the local head of an international aid agency over a report into hundreds of rapes in Darfur. 

It is the first such action against a top relief worker since a rebellion in the area began in 2003.  

Paul Foreman, the country head of the Dutch branch of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), said he had been arrested but was being freed on bail.  

MSF Holland expressed outrage at the arrest.  

Sudan's attorney-general, Mohamed Farid, told Reuters authorities had opened a criminal case over MSF Holland's report in March detailing 500 rapes over 4-1/2 months in Darfur. He said the report was false.  

The MSF Holland report said its doctors working in Sudan's western Darfur area, where tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million forced from their homes, had medical evidence of the rapes in the western Sudanese region.  

Foreman said he had been taken to a police station and spoken to the authorities.  

"I am under arrest but being released on bail," he said, adding he was in good health.  

Farid said the arrest warrant had been issued after consultation with the governmental Humanitarian Aid Commission. Under Sudanese law, he said MSF should have consulted the Commission before publishing any reports. 

Jeff Prescott, General Director of MSF Holland in Amsterdam, said the agency had sent lawyers and extra staff to Sudan.  

"We are actually outraged. We have a large presence in Sudan and have been there for many years," he said. 

Farid said the authorities had asked MSF Holland several times for the evidence on which the report was based, but the agency had refused to provide it. Therefore, they came to the conclusion the report was false.

The report, which received full backing from the United Nations, said more than 80 per cent of the victims reported that their attackers were militiamen or soldiers. It did not specify whether these included rebel factions.  

- REUTERS