The Sudanese government and the United Nations have agreed Wednesday on the way to handle the arrest of a Dutch aid worker whose charity group published a report on mass rape in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail told reporters that the two sides will handle the issue in a way that will restore Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)'s activities in Darfur under a professional humanitarian work that respects Sudan's will and sovereignty.

Vincent Hoedt, MSF regional coordinator, was arrested Tuesday by Sudanese authorities after MSF's Dutch branch published a report in March documenting 500 rape cases in the past four and a half months in Darfur.

Hoedt was released later Tuesday on bail, but Sudanese authorities said they have opened a criminal case over the report, which they labelled as "false".

"The charity agency should not have distorted the image of Sudan by spreading such reports," Ismail said.

The group said this report was based on medical evidence in the agency's hospitals in Darfur, where thousands of people have died from violence, hunger and diseases and over one million displaced since two rebel groups took up arms against the government for negligence in February 2003.

The group refused to reveal information of the victims they quoted in the report, citing doctor-patient confidentiality.

Top UN envoy in Sudan Jan Pronk condemned the arrest, describing it as very sorrowful.

The foreign minister said humanitarian organizations must not take humanitarian work as a means to threaten security and stability of the country, adding his government has dealt with the issue within the framework of "our relations with the humanitarian organizations."

Darfur rebels accused the Sudanese government of arming militia to burn their villages and kill and rape local farmers, a charge denied by Khartoum.

Source: Xinhua