Following Report of Widespread Rapes in Darfur

By AMY GOODMAN

MSF-Holland director Paul Foreman said he was arrested and interrogated on Monday and Vince Hoedt, Darfur co-ordinator for the Dutch section of MSF was arrested and questioned on Tuesday. Foreman was charged with crimes against the state, publishing false reports, spying and undermining Sudanese society.

• Jan Pronk, UN Special Representative to Sudan

• Paul Foreman, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Holland

• Nicholas Detorrente, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders in New York City.

• Charles Snyder, the U.S. State Department Senior Representative on Sudan.

AMY GOODMAN: U.N. Special Representative, Jan Pronk told the press yesterday that the arrests were unwarranted.

JAN PRONK: What is in the M.S.F. report is being backed and supported by me for a hundred percent. Secondly, M.S.F. is the most important, essential, crucial N.G.O. in Darfur. M.S.F., Holland, as all of the other M.S.F. have saved many lives of Sudanese people. Sudanese children, Sudanese people. What I thoroughly dislike is a smear campaign in Sudanese newspapers against people who have come here to save lives of Sudanese.

AMY GOODMAN: The Sudanese government claims Medecins Sans Frontieres would not turn over evidence used in its report, “The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur,” which documents 500 rapes in the Darfur region over a four-and-a-half month period. M.S.F. officials say they couldn't provide the personal information of people who were treated for rape because of medical privilege and confidentiality. Paul Foreman speaking Monday.

PAUL FOREMAN: If they want to suppress the report on rape, to wait two-and-a-half months and then arrest me and accuse me of providing false information, that's what's happened. I'm technically under arrest, and as far as I understand from the people I have been speaking to, I'm being charged with publishing false information.

AMY GOODMAN: A U.S. State Department spokesperson condemned the arrests and called on the Sudanese government to stop its campaign of harassment against aid workers in a Darfur. In March, the United States took steps toward normalizing relations with Sudan despite the lack of implementation of peace accords signed by the government and rebel groups. The Sudanese embassy in Washington said yesterday neither Foreman or Hoedt were officially arrested but rather they were detained for questioning and then released. We invited a representative of the Sudanese government on Democracy Now! but they didn't return our calls. Also, last weekend, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan visited the Sudan and spoke confidentially with rape survivors. Annan's translator during those sessions was asked to report to authorities several times despite government promises that no one involved in the U.N. visit would be harassed. We're joined in the studio by Nicholas Detorrente, who is the Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders in New York, and on the phone with us from Washington, we are joined on the phone by Charles Snyder, who is U.S. State Department senior representative on the Sudan. Welcome both to Democracy Now!

NICHOLAS DETORRENTE: Thank you.

CHARLES SNYDER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Why don't we start off with you, Nicholas. Tell us exactly what has happened at this point?

NICHOLAS DETORRENTE: Well, I think your news report summed it up very well. Paul Foreman, our head of mission in Sudan, was arrested and detained by Sudanese authorities. He has been since released on bail, but he has been charged with crimes against the state, and other – there are other claims made against him in connection to the report on rape that Doctors Without Borders put out in March. Our Darfur coordinator, Vince Hoedt, who was in Nyala, has been there for almost a year, has himself also been detained, brought to Khartoum and is undergoing interrogation, as well, by the prosecutor's office.