The African Union mission in Sudan is launching a probe into allegations that AU troops in Darfur sexually abused Darfuri women. The allegations were aired on British television channel four and charge that AU peacekeepers paid displaced Darfuri girls as young as 11-years-old for sex.
”The AU leadership considers the allegations of these heinous crimes very grave and unacceptable, and is determined to take all necessary measures to establish the facts of these allegations,” the AU said in a statement released late on Tuesday.
According to the BBC, the British programme spoke with two Darfuri women in the southern Darfur town of Gereida.
One woman said she had become pregnant as the result of a paid tryst; the other was an 11-year-old girl who said she was paid before being raped.
The AU noted that it has faced such allegations before, and ”all allegations that had been brought to the attention of the authorities were thoroughly investigated and found to be baseless”.
The AU currently has 7 000 troops patrolling Darfur — a remote area the size of France. The mission has come under increasing criticims for its inability to protect civilians.
The international community has stepped up the pressure calling for the AU to turn the mission over to the United Nations, despite fierce resistance from the Sudan government. — Sapa-DPA