UN and African Union Complicity in Obscuring Darfur’s Realities: A long and disgraceful pattern of behavior
Eric Reeves | February 21, 2018 | https://wp.me/p45rOG-2dO
Both the UN and the African Union have a long and disgraceful history of misrepresenting, understating, or simply lying about the ghastly realities of Darfur over the past 15 years. The worst offenders have been the heads of the UN/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), whose former leaders have repeatedly offered egregiously distorted views of violence on the ground. In 2009—despite the mission’s massive failures in protection and reporting, despite its repeated denials of access by the Khartoum regime in violation of the Status of Forces Agreement signed in early 2008, despite the massive uptick in human displacement during the deployment of UNAMID, despite Khartoum’s clear responsibility for the most deadly attacks on UNAMID personnel—Rodolphe Adada of Congo declared at the end of his tenure as head of UNAMID:
“What you have is security issues more now. Banditry, localised issues.” Rodolphe Adada of Congo [the wholly incompetent–ER] joint UN/African Union representative to UNAMID. “I have achieved results” in Darfur. “There is no more fighting proper on the ground.” “Right now there is no high-intensity conflict in Darfur. Call it what you will but this is what is happening in Darfur—a lot of banditry, carjacking, attacks on houses.” (Reuters, August 27, 2009)
Notably, this statement came just months after the Khartoum regime expelled thirteen distinguished humanitarian operations in Darfur, creating a vast shortcoming in relief capacity from which the region has never recovered. Moreover, violence reported throughout 2009 was much greater than what is suggested by the absurdly dismissive language of Adada (see | http://sudanreeves.org/category/briefs-and-advocacy-post-machakos-09/page/ )
The second head of UNAMID, Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, declared on completing his tenure in September 2012 that he was “gratified to note that barely 31 months on, all the objectives I set out to meet [in Darfur] have largely been met.” This statement occurred against a backdrop of dramatically accelerating violence (see | http://sudanreeves.org/2012/10/12/the-avalanche-of-violence-continues-to-accelerate-in-darfur/). In an interview earlier the same year (May 20, 2012), the spokesman for UNAMID, Christopher Cycmanick, also “described the security situation in Darfur as ‘relatively calm.’”
In fact, 2012 was a year that saw an explosion of violence in Darfur (see | http://sudanreeves.org/2012/12/01/growing-violence-in-darfur-deserves-honest-reporting-not-more-flatulent-un-nonsense/ ]; this explosion would continue to accelerate through the 2016 Khartoum offensive in Jebel Marra, Central Darfur (see | “Scorched Earth, Poisoned Air: Sudanese Government Forces Ravage Jebel Marra, Darfur,” Amnesty International, September 2016 | https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/jebel_marra_report_c2.pdf )
These facts certainly did not embarrass to Gambari, who simply lied about the levels of violence and displacement in Darfur. And yet it was on the basis of Gambari’s reporting that the African Union Peace and Security Council declared in May 2013 that UNAMID was “worthy of emulation” for future peacekeeping missions in Africa. In fact, the massive scale of UNAMID’s failure was fully revealed in April 2014 in an exceedingly well-informed exposé in Foreign Affairs.
But UN officials for their part have also offered shamefully inaccurate assessments of major issues, including the number of displaced persons in Darfur. Through deliberate statistical manipulation and use of non-existent data, former UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Georg Charpentier artificially reduced the number of IDPs from that in the last UN Humanitarian Profile of Darfur—2.7 million (No. 34, conditions as of January 1, 2009)—to 1.9 million in early 2011, a transparently untenable figure but one that helped substantiate a claimed improvement in security conditions in Darfur. The figure currently cited by the UN is again 2.7 million, some 1.5 million of them newly displaced since the deployment of UNAMID in January 2008—now over a decade ago.
And it continues…
In the past day, both Sudan Tribune and Radio Dabanga have reported the publicly expressed and contemptibly ill-informed views of Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten. Even prior to her traveling to Darfur, Patten is reported to have declared in Khartoum:
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, has praised improvement of security situation in Darfur region especially the status of women.
[How, we might wonder, can Patten praise the improvement of the security situation in Darfur before her assessment mission? This is nothing more than deference to the Khartoum regime—which will control every step, every destination, every interview she conducts in Darfur. It is clear that Patten knows what she wants to declare before she has even attempted to see what conditions are, or to speak to the very recent victims of sexual violence (for examples, see Appendix A—ER).
According to Ashorooq TV, Patten on Tuesday met with the governor of North Darfur State Abdel-Wahid Youssef and his cabinet in El-Fasher. She pointed out that her visit to Darfur aims to inspect the security situation on the ground, saying a joint statement with the Sudanese government on combating sexual violence would be issued during the coming days. (“UN official hails security improvement in Darfur,” Sudan Tribune, February 20, 2018 (KHARTOUM)
The Sudan Tribune dispatch goes on to note:
Patten stressed the UN determination to end sexual violence in conflict areas, pointing to Sudan’s government strong political will to fighting against gender-based violence.
This is outrageous disingenuousness and obscene misrepresentation on the part of SR Patten: she knows, or certainly should know, that rape has been a primary instrument of war in Khartoum’s genocidal counter-insurgency in Darfur—the conclusion of every human rights report on the subject of rape and sexual violence since the Amnesty International report of 2004 and that of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-Holland) in 2005 (the response of the Khartoum regime to the latter report was to arrest and eventually expel the two most senior MSF-Holland officials working in Sudan). Required reading for Patten should be research reflected in the extensive bibliography of human rights reporting on sexual violence in Darfur (Appendix B below).
It is a conspicuous truth that Khartoum has sanctioned rape by its militia forces throughout Darfur—and indeed by its regular Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) troops. Most infamously, SAF troops acting on orders from their garrison commander were responsible for the mass rape of more than 200 girls and women in Tabit, North Darfur in October 2014. The terrible assault was first reported within days by Radio Dabanga; in February 2015 Human Rights Watch issued a definitive and comprehensive account: “Sudan: Mass Rape by Army in Darfur: UN, AU Should Press for Protection, International Investigation,” February 11, 2015 | https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/11/sudan-mass-rape-army-darfur/.
UNAMID for its part issued the following statement following its own much-delayed investigation at Tabit:
“None of those interviewed confirmed [in Tabit] 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.” (November 10, 2014 | El Fasher)
There could be no more apt illustration of UNAMID’s failure to investigate, report, or take seriously the issue of rape—and yet UNAMID has been the only source of information the UN has considered, even as the Khartoum regime has been particularly intimidating on the issue; any reporting on sexual violence has been extremely partial and reflects grossly inadequate investigating efforts by the Mission. Notably, two of former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s required (and lengthy) quarterly reports on UNAMID contained not a single reference to sexual violence.
My own research on raped in Darfur during the two-year period 2014 – 2015 makes clear just how continuous the use of rape as a weapon of war has been, particular by armed militias, including the notorious Rapid Support Forces (RSF):
“Continuing Mass Rape of Girls in Darfur: The most heinous crime generates no international outrage,” January 2016 | Eric Reeves, author | Maya Baca, research and editing | | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1QG
[Arabic translation of this report | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1Rr ]
The data spreadsheet for this report, reflecting reports from the two-year period 2014 – 2015, includes over 350 entries, almost none from UNAMID.
The Sudan Tribune dispatch concludes with a typical characterization of the situation in Darfur, one belied constantly by reports from Radio Dabanga of extremely dire humanitarian conditions; violence—including rape, murder, armed robbery, expropriation of farmland and property; and the current initiation of a catastrophic program to dismantle the camps for displaced persons. (Unsurprisingly, Radio Dabanga has been systematically squeezed off its broadcast platforms by Khartoum’s pressure on Arab satellite stations; see recent Sudan Tribune dispatch | Appendix C):
For his part, Youssef underscored the stability of security situation in Darfur saying life has returned to normal at all levels.
[The UN seems all too willing to accept such characterizations, not because they are true—they are patently false—but because Khartoum insists on such cooperation in “messaging” as a condition of continued UN presence in Sudan—ER]
He added his government focus has now shifted to development programmes and reconciliation among the various tribes to amend the social fabric.
The shift to “development programmes” is nothing more than a determined effort to remove the rationale for the continued presence of international humanitarian relief organizations. Coupled with the program of camp dismantlings, closings, and “conversions” to towns, the vast humanitarian program begun in summer 2004 is coming to an end, putting many hundreds of thousands of Darfuris at extreme risk.
Radio Dabanga also reported on the comments of PR Patten:
On Tuesday, the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the level of Under‑Secretary-General Pramila Patten kicked off her visit to Darfur, starting with a meeting with the government of North Darfur in El Fasher. The pro-government Ashorooq TV reported that during her visit, Patten praised the improvement of the security situation in Darfur region, especially the status of women.
[Such praise is wholly without justification: it is simply the Khartoum-dictated price Patten is willing to pay to gain access to Darfur—ER]
With her visit to Darfur the representative aims to inspect the security situation on the ground.
[Again, there is not a location to which Patten will travel, not a person she will speak to that is not fully under the scrutiny and ultimately the control of Khartoum’s security services. She will see nothing they do not wish her to see, and any with whom she might speak will have been warned in advance that he or she, along with family members, are in extreme danger if they speak about sexual violence with honesty—ER]
A joint statement with the Sudanese government on combating sexual violence would be issued during the coming days.
[Such a “joint statement” will be to Khartoum’s liking or it will not be issued; and if it is not issued, we will know the meaning of Patten’s silence—ER]
(“UN representative on sexual violence starts visit in Darfur,” February 21, 2018 EL FASHER, NYALA)
The UN continues to offer not a serious response to or reporting of sexual violence in Darfur, but rather a disgraceful mix of lies, accommodation of Khartoum’s propaganda, and cruel indifference. Suggesting that the problem of rape is anything other than a pervasive, profoundly destructive assault on the women and girls of Darfur is unforgivable.
Appendix A: Recent instances of reported sexual violence
It is important to remember that only a small fraction of sexual assaults are actually reported, even by Radio Dabanga. Darfur is simply too big, too insecure, and opportunities for communicating specific incidents too often simply don’t exist. What we may be sure of, on the basis of both extant statistical data and the combined evidence of human rights reporting on sexual violence, is that many tens of thousands of girls and women have been raped by Khartoum’s militia and regular forces over the past 15 years.
• Girl raped near North Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga, February 20, 2018 | SHANGIL TOBAYA
• Darfur crimes: Three men killed, firewood collectors abducted | Radio Dabanga, February 9, 2018 | EL MALAM / TABIT
[Many thousands of girls and women have been abducted by Khartoum-allied militiamen over the past 15 years; their fates are often undetermined, but it is reasonable to assume the worst in these cases—ER]
• Rapes by militiamen in North Darfur, South Kordofan | Radio Dabanga, January 24, 2018 | SARAF OMRA / UM BRAMBETA
• Two women raped during Darfur attack, UNAMID confirms | Radio Dabanga, January 19, 2018 | ZALINGEI
[A UNAMID confirmation makes this an unusual event—ER]
• More rapes in Nierteti, Central Darfur | Radio Dabanga, December 25, 2017 | NIERTETI
• Three young women gang raped by herders in Central Darfur | Radio Dabanga, December 18, 2017 | NIERTETI
• Two girls raped in West Darfur | Radio Dabanga, December 11, 2017 | FORO BARANGA
• UNAMID “obstructed” in Darfur violence investigation | Radio Dabanga, December 8, 2017 | MISTERIYA / KABKABIYA
• Mother killed, daughter raped on farm in North Darfur | Radio Dabanga, November 21, 2017 | TAWILA
APPENDIX B: Annotated Bibliography of Human Rights Reporting on Sexual Violence in Darfur
[1] Amnesty International, “Sudan, Darfur: Rape as a Weapon of War” [July 19, 2004] | https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/sudan-darfur-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-sexual-violence-and-its-consequences/
One of the very earliest human rights accounts of what had already reached epidemic proportions. This lengthy report by Amnesty is authoritative, based on very substantial field research, and compelling in its analysis and framing of issues in terms of international humanitarian and human rights law. It has never been the case that the international community was unaware of the scale of sexual violence and rape in Darfur; such awareness simply did not translate into meaningful responses.
[2] Doctors Without Borders/Médecins San Frontières (MSF)/Holland, March 2005 | “The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur,” | http://www.nsvrc.org/publications/reports/crushing-burden-rape-sexual-violence-darfur/
In the wake of the report’s release, Khartoum arrested and eventually expelled the two most senior MSF-Holland officials working in Sudan. The MSF report, with an extraordinary body of first-hand evidence, documents more than 500 cases of rape; this report figured in Khartoum’s decision to expel the organization, along with twelve others, in March 2009.
[3] Attaelmanan, Anwar Yousif, Jiang Hengkun, and Elsadig Musa Ahmed, “Socio-Psychological Impact of the Darfur War on Women and Children,” Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 19 (5): 697-701, 2014 ISSN 1990-9233 © IDOSI Publications, 2014
This article discusses the psychological and social impact of the war in Darfur on women, children, and family as well as the heavy foreign presence and establishment of an aid economy. It also proposes processes required to address the crisis in Darfur.
[4] Baca, Maya, “A Biocultural Approach to Rape Committed During Armed Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachusetts Boston, May 2014 | http://sudanreeves.org/2016/01/09/a-biocultural-approach-to-rape-committed-during-armed-conflicts-in-sub-saharan-africa-by-maya-baca/
This essay briefly illustrates the complexity of addressing rape in conflict-affected areas, by discussing the identities of perpetrators and the social and epidemiological impact of sexual violence.
[5] Bashir, Halima, Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur (Random House, 2009)
Bashir, a Zaghawa woman trained as a doctor, was herself savagely raped and tortured because of her courageous medical response to the mass rape of schoolgirls in North Darfur. This searing account takes the reader to the very heart of darkness in Darfur.
[6] “Genocidal Rape and Assault in Darfur” (Dirksen Senate Office Building & Rayburn House Office Building, July 21, 2005). Sponsored by members of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus & the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues. Testimony of Eric Reeves, Smith College: “Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur.
[7] Gingerich, Tara, JD, MA and Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, “The Use of Rape as a Weapon of War in the conflict in Darfur, Sudan” (October 2004).
Prepared for the US Agency for International Development/OTI under the auspices of the Harvard School of Public Health and the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. A powerful study of sexual violence in Darfur published in fall 2004, it deserves the closest attention.
[8] Human Rights Watch, “Sexual violence and its consequences among displaced persons in Darfur and Chad,” (April 2005)
[from the Introduction]
Since early 2003, Sudanese government forces and government-backed ethnic militias known as “Janjaweed” have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the Darfur region of Sudan. They have targeted for abuse civilians belonging to the same ethnic groups as members of two rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Rape and sexual violence against women and girls has been a prominent feature of the “ethnic cleansing” campaign carried out by government forces and militias, both during and following displacement in Darfur. Once displaced into camps in Darfur, or into refugee camps in Chad, women and girls continue to suffer sexual and gender-based violence. As discussed below, rape and sexual violence have numerous social, economic and medical consequences, including increasing the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS as a result of the violence.
[9] Human Rights Watch, “Five Years On: No Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence in Darfur,” (April 2008)
[from the Introduction]
Five years into the armed conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region, women and girls living in displaced persons camps, towns, and rural areas remain extremely vulnerable to sexual violence. Sexual violence continues to occur throughout the region, both in the context of continuing attacks on civilians, and during periods of relative calm. Those responsible are usually men from the Sudanese security forces, militias, rebel groups, and former rebel groups, who target women and girls predominantly (but not exclusively) from Fur, Zaghawa, Masalit, Berti, Tunjur, and other non-Arab ethnicities.
[10] Johnson, Kirsten, MD, MPH, Jennifer Scott, MD, Bigy Rughita, MSc, Michael Kisielewski, MA, Jana Asher, MSc, Ricardo Ong, MD, and Lynn Lawry, MD, MSPH, MSc, “Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights Violations With Physical and Mental Health in Territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo” [August 4, 2010]
Examining specific territories in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, this study found that adult survivors and perpetrators of prevalent sexual violence and other human rights abuses were both male and female. In addition to challenging the international community to better address female perpetrators and male survivors in policy regarding rehabilitation and justice, this study disputes the findings of institution-based studies that sexual violence perpetrated by civilians is on the rise.
[11] Physicians for Human Rights, “Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women.” May 2009
The psychological, physical, and social destructiveness of rape as a weapon of war can scarcely be overstated. As deployed in Darfur, it is meant to destroy family structures within the non-Arab or African populations that have, overwhelmingly, been the target of campaigns of rape. The best account of the physical and mental devastation occasioned by rape in Darfur is a May 2009 study by Physicians for Human Rights, “Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women” (http://darfuriwomen.phrblog.org/nowhere-to-turn/). The effects of eight years of displacement by genocidal counter-insurgency warfare have left civilians suffering from a wide range of severe mental disorders, particularly girls and women who have been victims of rape. In its meticulously researched study, PHR chronicled in soul-destroying detail some of the devastation among Darfuri refugee girls and women in eastern Chad:
Researchers asked women to rate their physical and mental health status in Darfur and now in Chad on a 1-5 scale with 1 being “very good” and 5 being “poor.” Women reported a marked deterioration in their physical health status since leaving Darfur, with an average ranking of 3.99 for health in Chad versus 2.06 for Darfur.
Even more alarmingly, the PHR study found:
The study indicated a marked deterioration in self-reported mental health, where the average score was 4.90. “I am sad every day (since leaving Darfur). I feel not well in my skin,” explained one respondent. Women who experienced rape (confirmed or highly probable) were three times more likely to report suicidal thoughts than were women who did not report sexual violence.
[12] Medical evidence of widespread torture in Darfur released by PHR in PLoS Medicine, from Physicians for Human Rights (April 4, 2012). Lead author Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Eisa is the former director of the Amel Centre for the Treatment of Darfur, Nyala South Darfur and winner of the Robert F. Kennedy award for Human Rights. Download PDF (214.71 KB)
90 percent of patients at Darfuri center for torture victims were attacked by Government/Janjaweed
Today’s issue of PLoS Medicine features a peer-reviewed study led by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that provides rare forensic medical evidence of widespread, sustained torture and other human rights violations by the Government of Sudan (GoS) and allied Janjaweed forces against non-Arabic-speaking civilians in South Darfur.
In the study, PHR’s forensic medical experts reviewed the medical records of 325 patients seen in 2004-2006 at a clinic in Nyala, South Darfur for torture victims. The documentation from this review of medical records provides important validation of extensive testimonies gathered by many organizations and UN agencies over the years
“The killing, rape, torture, and other human rights violations documented in our study appear to have been committed as part of widespread, systematic and coordinated attacks directed against non-Arab speaking civilian populations in Darfur,” said Vincent Iacopino, Senior Medical Advisor at PHR and senior author of the study. “These apparent crimes against humanity demand investigation, accountability and justice. Inaction in the face of such inhumanity would be complicity by default.”
Key findings of the study include:
90% of patients from 12 different non-Arabic-speaking tribes alleged that they had been attacked by GoS and/or Janjaweed forces in 23 rural areas across Darfur.
Approximately one-half (49%) of all women disclosed that they had been sexually assaulted, and one-half of sexual assaults were described as having occurred in close proximity to a camp for internally displaced persons.
“This study underscores the necessity of peace and reconciliation for the people of Darfur,” said Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Eisa, Sudan Fellow at PHR and co-author of the study. “Hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been attacked and tortured during the past decade are living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and desperately need security and protection. Once they are safe, these survivors deserve compensation and restitution for what they have endured…”
The other study authors are Alexander Tsai, Sondra Crosby, Susannah Sirkin, Michele Heisler, and Jennifer Leaning.
[13] Public Summary of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s Application under Article 58, seeking an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, charging three counts of the crime of genocide, five counts of crimes against humanity, two counts of war crimes: No.: ICC-02/05 | Date: 14 July 2008 | http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc529671.pdf
See especially paragraphs 14 – 28 (“Pattern of Attacks”) for details of the evidence assembled by the ICC Prosecutor, including substantial evidence of systematic, ethnically-targeted rape. See also March 4, 2009 arrest warrant for al-Bashir issued by Pre-Trial Chamber 1 of the ICC (http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc639078.pdf), and the July 2010 arrest warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber 1, confirming the charge of genocide (http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc907142.pdf).
[14] Eric Reeves, “RAPE AS A CONTINUING WEAPON OF WAR IN DARFUR: Reports, bibliography of studies, a compendium of incidents”
Eric Reeves, 4 March 2012
Sexual violence and rape in Darfur have ceased to command the attention they once had—not because this brutal epidemic has ended but because of the absence of human rights reporting, news reporting, and the intimidation of humanitarian organizations ensures that we hear very little about one of the most brutal features of the Darfur genocide.
This brief provides [1] a select bibliography of reports and studies examining the realities of rape and sexual violence in Darfur (in progress); [2] an overview of what was already evident of these realities from mid-2005; [3] a lengthy compendium of reports of specific incidents of sexual violence and rape. This compendium is also a work in progress, extending back into report archives, and grimly forward as rape continues to be reported on a nearly daily basis by Radio Dabanga, despite various assertions that Darfur is settling into a more “peaceful” state.
[15] Schabas, William, “The Physical Element or Actus Reus of Genocide,” Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes. (Cambridge UP, 2009)
This chapter explains the physical element (actus reus) and mental element (mens rea) that define the crime of genocide in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
[16] Scott, Jennifer, Shada Rouhani, Ashley Greiner, Katherine Albutt, Philipp Kuwert, Michele R Hacker, Michael VanRooyen, and Susan Bartels, “Respondent-driven sampling to assess mental health outcomes, stigma and acceptance among women raising children born from sexual violence-related pregnancies in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo” (BMJ Open 2015;5:e007057 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007057 | April 2015).
This study found high rates of depression, PTSD, anxiety and suicidality among women raising children from sexual violence-related pregnancies (SVRPs) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. These findings and the data related to stigma toward the mother and child suggest that decreasing community stigma and increasing support to families following sexual violence may improve mental health in this population.
Appendix C: The silencing of Radio Dabanga
“Egypt’s Nilesat stops Radio Dabanga satellite broadcasts” | Sudan Tribune, February 19, 2018 (KHARTOUM)
Radio Dabanga has been taken off air by the Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat since Sunday, according to a statement issued by the Sudanese independent radio station which is based in the Netherlands. “Without prior notice, the Egyptian satellite service company Nilesat cancelled the uplink of the 24/7 Dabanga Sudan satellite programme to its channel on Eutelsat (…) at 4pm on Sunday. The channel was silenced immediately,” reads a statement the radio released on its website. “Dabanga has resumed broadcast on the new frequency 11.354 GHz (Eutelsat),” the statement further informed its listeners. Nilesat has its own satellites but also leasing multiple transponders on Eutelsat 8 West B satellite since 2015.
In July 2015, the Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) has removed Radio Dabanga from its satellite upon a request from the Sudanese government. Dabanga was the first media outlet to report accusations in October 2014 that Sudanese soldiers had raped some 200 women and girls in Tabit, a village 45km south-west of North Darfur capital El-Fasher.