Militias allied to the South
Sudanese army have been allowed to rape women in lieu of wages while
fighting rebels, a UN report says. Investigators found that 1,300 women had been raped last year in oil-rich Unity State alone, it said.
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South Sudan's army has been accused of suffocating more than 60 people
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The
army operated a "scorched earth" policy to deliberately target
civilians for killing and rape, which amounted to war crimes, the UN
said. The government denies its army targeted civilians but says it is investigating.
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More than two million people have been displaced by the fighting
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According
to the UN report, militias operated under a "do what you can and take
what you can" agreement that allowed them to rape and abduct women and
girls as a form of payment.
They also raided cattle and stole personal property, it added.
'Killed for looking'
The
scale and type of sexual violence committed in South Sudan constitute
some of the most horrendous human rights abuses in the world, UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said
- One woman said she had watched her 15-year-old daughter being raped by 10 soldiers after her husband was killed
- Another said she had been stripped naked and raped by five soldiers in front of her children on the roadside
- Witnesses
told investigators that several women had been abducted and held in
sexual slavery as "wives" for soldiers in the barracks
- Young-looking
women were specifically targeted and raped by about ten men, one
witness said. In some cases, those who tried to resist or even looked at
their rapists were killed, she added
The UN said government
forces and allied militias had gang-raped girls and cut civilians to
pieces. It also accused opposition fighters of committing human rights
abuses.
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