GENEVA, July 12 (Reuters) - The Sudanese government on Thursday defended its human rights record to a United Nations panel, faulting rebel groups for not stopping "gross violations" in its conflict-torn Darfur region.

Abduldaim Zamrawy, undersecretary of Sudan's Ministry of Justice, told the U.N. Human Rights Committee that Khartoum was "carrying out its duty to protect civilians in Darfur" and fighting violence against women in the region where some 200,000 people are thought to have died since 2003.

In its report to the committee, which reviews signatory states' adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Sudan said those living in areas under government control enjoyed many rights and freedoms, including access to higher education and a free press.

"Gross violations of the Covenant appear in the parts under the control of the rebel movement in southern Sudan," it said, citing ongoing fighting in the region as "a major impediment" to Khartoum providing essential services to people there, according to a written record by the United Nations.

"Another hindrance was foreign intervention, in the form of an invasion by neighbouring countries and a substantial support of the rebel movement," it added.

The report side-stepped allegations that Khartoum has backed brutal militias to fight rebels in Darfur. The government said "a wide range of factions and militias" have been involved in that conflict, which it said had its roots in disputes over local resources such as water.

It told the U.N. panel, which will issue a formal response to the Sudanese report in late July, that female circumcision was "constantly diminishing" in Sudan in the wake of a legal ban and education campaigns.

It also claimed successes in curbing violence against women as a result of a new special police force set up to help protect people in Darfur, and efforts to teach health professionals about the procedures to follow in cases of rape or assault.

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