UN denounces the rape of 125 women in South Sudan | World

According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), some of the victims would be under 10 years old and others over 65 years old. Pregnant women have also been raped, said a humanitarian NGO.

"Women and girls flocked to the MSF clinic in Bentiu last week after surviving the horrific badual violence," said Ruth Okello, a midwife working for MSF in Southern Sudan.

MSF, the attacks took place between 19 and 29 November and it was not possible to determine who executed them.

The victims were raped, "badped, beaten or beaten with truncheons or weapons" and their clothes, shoes, money and food cards were removed.

"I have been working in South Sudan for three years, and I have never seen such a dramatic increase in the number of people who have survived badual violence and who have come to our program to get to the United States. medical help, "said Okello.

"We treated 104 victims of badual violence in the first ten months of this year and we helped 125 last week," he said.

According to Unmiss, women and girls who were traveling from their village to Bentiu City were badaulted by young men dressed in military uniforms.

"These violent attacks took place in a government-controlled area, which has primary responsibility for the safety of civilians," said the organization's chief, David Shearer, in describing the rapes as " absolutely abominable ".

Shearer asked the armed forces to control their troops. "The UN mission has held urgent meetings with the authorities and urged them to take immediate steps to protect women and girls in the region and to hold the perpetrators accountable for these terrible crimes," he said. .

Unmiss opened an investigation to identify the perpetrators of the rapes, sent patrols to the area and a team of engineers to remove roadside vegetation in order to avoid further attacks.

The South Sudanese Ceasefire Monitoring Committee by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) of South Africa (IGAD) also announced the opening of 39, an investigation.

On August 5, the government and rebel groups in South Sudan signed a peace agreement to end the conflict that erupted in late 2013, two years after the independence of the country. country.

South Sudan entered civil war in December 2013 in Juba, capital of the country, when President Salva Kiir accused Riek Machar, his former vice president of the Nuer ethnic group, of having planned a coup d'etat.