Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The Sudanese Army has been using rape as policy in a rebel province, a report said.

Human Rights Watch said the Sudanese Army has been systematically raping women and girls in the western province of Darfour. The New York-based group cited an army attack on the Darfour town of Tabit in October 2014 in which more than 200 females were raped.

“The deliberate attack on Tabit and the mass rape of the town’s women and girls is a new low in the catalog of atrocities in Darfour,” Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said.

In a report titled “Mass Rape in Darfour: Sudanese Army Attacks Against Civilians in Tabit,” HRW cited testimony of more than 50 Sudanese who recalled the mass rape, Middle East Newsline reported. Witnesses said army units went house-to-house in Tabit, under rebel control, and raped at least 221 women and girls over a 36-hour period. They said the men were beaten and their homes looted.

“Two army defectors separately told Human Rights Watch that their superior officers had ordered them to ‘rape women,'” the report said. “The attacks on Tabit occurred in a wider context of a rise in government attacks on civilians.”

Witnesses said Tabit residents were later tortured and warned not to report the army rapes to either the United Nations or African Union. They said the army has also restricted access to the town.

HRW said the Sudanese Army routinely employs sexual violence against rebel-held communities. The group cited widespread rape in the Blue Nile state as well as Darfour during 2014.

“Sudan has done everything possible to cover up the horrific crimes committed by its soldiers in Tabit, but the survivors have fearlessly chosen to speak out,” Bekele said. “The UN Security Council and the AU should demand that Sudan stop these attacks, urgently act to protect Tabit’s residents, and conduct a credible investigation.”

  Report: Sudan Army uses rape in Darfour as policy, WorldTribune.com