S- Sudan army raped girls, burned them alive ----UN
The United Nations, UN, has accused South Sudan's army of
raping and then burning girls alive inside their homes during its recent
campaign, a report by its mission in the country said.
The world body in a statement, published on Tuesday, warned
the recent upsurge in fighting had been marked by a "new brutality and
intensity".
"The scope and level of cruelty that has characterised
the reports suggests a depth of antipathy that exceeds political
differences," the UN said.
According to Al-Jazeera, members of the UN mission in Sudan
(UNMISS) said they interviewed 115 victims and eyewitnesses in Unity state
where South Sudanese forces were involved in fighting against opposition
fighters in April.
The survivors allege that the Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA) killed civilians, destroyed villages and displaced 100,000 people, the
statement added.
The UN said attempts to corroborate the reports were
prevented by the SPLA, which denied its teams access to the areas concerned.
"UNMISS human rights officers visited two additional
sites of alleged atrocities and conducted more interviews of eyewitnesses and
victims. The information gathered from those visits and interviews provided
further corroboration of the earlier accounts," the statement read.
"We call on the SPLA to fulfil this commitment and
allow our human rights officers unfettered access to the sites of these
reported violations," said Ellen Margrethe Loej, the head of UNMISS.
The military spokesman for the South Sudanese army, Philip
Aguer Panyang, told Al Jazeera that the accusations made in the report needed
further verification, and questioned accusations South Sudanese troops had
obstructed UN investigators.
"Our role as an army is to facilitate humanitarian
deliveries and access for civilian protection," Panyang said.
"If the UN has been denied access, they have the right
to present those claims to the SPLA command."
South Sudan attained independence in 2011 but the country
has disintegrated into chaos. Thousands of people have been killed and almost
two million displaced in a civil conflict that erupted in late 2013 as forces
loyal to Salva Kiir tried to put down an uprising led by his former deputy,
Riek Machar.
Peace talks between the factions collapsed in March this
year, and clashes have since escalated.
Kiir said that he will not be forced into a premature peace
deal and rejected the UN threat of sanctions against his country.
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