United Nations experts have called on authorities in South Sudan to investigate officials accused of overseeing systematic gang rapes, some of whose victims were girls as young as nine.
The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said on Monday that it had reasonable grounds to believe a county commissioner in the northern oil-rich state of Unity orchestrated gang rapes at a military camp.
The documented abuses also involved beheadings, rape victims forced to carry the severed heads, victims being burned alive and days of brutal sexual assaults, the UN experts said in a statement.
“Conflict-related rape and sexual violence in Unity State has become so systematic and is a direct result of impunity,” commission member Barney Afako said.
Investigators say sexual abuse has been used as a weapon by all sides in South Sudan’s civil conflict, which erupted in 2013 and triggered Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
In the abuses outlined in Unity, multiple witnesses said the state official planned and ordered the attacks, which were led by his deputy and followed strikingly similar patterns in different areas, according to the UN statement.
In response, Michael Makuei, South Sudan’s information minister and government spokesman, dismissed the commission’s statement as a fabrication.
“They come and sit in hotels here in Juba and fabricate these false reports on South Sudan to make a living,” he told the Reuters news agency. “… I am saying these are false reports fabricated against the government.”
The commission said the abuses cut across all political affiliations. It said one governor in the opposition in the state of Western Equatoria was appointed to his post despite being responsible for the 2018 abduction, rape, torture and sexual slavery of more than 400 women and girls.
Lam Paul Gabriel, military spokesman for Vice President Riek Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), said it had had no hand in the reported crimes.
“This report is misplaced because they do not know who is fighting who in those areas where these accusations are made,” Lam said.
Attempts to reach officials from Unity and Western Equatoria to comment were unsuccessful.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but two years later descended into a spiral of brutal ethnic violence and revenge killings.
A peace agreement was signed in 2018, but 9.4 million people will require humanitarian aid next year, representing more than three-quarters of the population, according to UN figures.
The UN Human Rights Council set up the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in 2016 to monitor rights and make recommendations on accountability.
Newer articles:
- AU-PSC: Morocco in Favor of Multidimensional Approach in South Sudan - 01/12/2022 09:50
- South Sudan misses key timelines in peace implementation, UNMISS chief tells AU - 01/12/2022 03:49
- The Right to Exist - 01/12/2022 00:17
- Ukraine, allied nations launch $150-million grain export plan to help vulnerable nations - 01/12/2022 00:10
- Karen Nyamu Stuns Netizens with Photo Showing Basketball Skills in South Sudan: "Uko Flexible Sana" - 01/12/2022 00:09
Older news items
- Governor Cleto calls for freedoms of speech, association - 29/11/2022 04:07
- Sudan: Unidentified Fevers in Red Sea State Amidst Worst Dengue Outbreak in Over a Decade - 29/11/2022 03:07
- Impagliazzo: Sant'Egidio not giving up on peace mediation - 29/11/2022 02:26
- UNMISS-funded secondary school in Kediba brings joy to communities, especially girls - 29/11/2022 02:09
- Qatar loses on World Cup field, makes gains on global stage - 29/11/2022 00:06
Latest news items (all categories):
- علاقة عقيمة من طرف واحد - 12/04/2024 01:25
- Press Release - International poetry initiative seeks poems on African experiences of migration - 04/04/2024 23:28
- South Sudan oil revenue dwindles - 31/03/2024 00:46
- The decline of Equatoria and emergence of Jieng tribal power in South Sudan - 30/03/2024 23:10
- Both SPLM-IG's No-extension and SPLM-IO's Extension Proposals are all means for No 2024 Elections - 24/03/2024 23:14
Random articles (all categories):
- UPDATE: Sudan, South Sudan Troops Clash Near Disputed Heglig Oil Field - 06/08/2013 05:23
- South Sudan Price Bulletin, October 2020 - 30/10/2020 17:09
- South Sudan, nearing 10 years old, struggles for stability - 14/05/2021 01:45
- South Sudan army forces kill 19 rebels - Press TV - 21/11/2012 12:07
- Wulu County commissioner suspends six teachers - 08/11/2022 08:16
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 30698 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 21838 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 20722 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 17193 times
- With prisons full, South Sudan to introduce mobile courts to clear backlog of cases - 11/10/2012 11:29 - Read 14194 times