Sudan has called on the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to close its human rights office in the capital Khartoum.

“We observed incidents in which UNAMID soldiers raped women and the mission took no measures to hold them accountable and did not make them leave the country, which raised tensions,” said Abdullah al-Azraq, the under-secretary for Sudan’s foreign minister, in a statement on Tuesday.

Khartoum’s allegation against UNAMID came one month after the UN-backed mission accused Sudanese government forces of raping 200 women in Tabit village in the violence-ravaged region of Darfur.

Khartoum has dismissed UNAMID’s accusations, saying that the mission’s decision to investigate the rape case is outside its mandate and jurisdiction.

"This step [shutting down UNAMID’s rights office] is not an escalation on our part or a restriction because of the spreading of false allegations about a mass rape in Tabit, Darfur, but we are trying to return... UNAMID to its mandate," Azraq stated.

Darfur has been the scene of deadly violence since 2003, when rebels took up arms against the central government in Khartoum. There has also been tribal fighting in the region.

The UN mission was launched in 2007 in a bid to protect civilians and restore stability to the restive region.

The United Nations estimates that the violence in Darfur has so far killed over 300,000 people and displaced around two million.