AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - The United Nations: war crimes in South Sudan, including rapes and mass killings"

Juba (Agenzia Fides) - "Rape is definitely used systematically as a weapon to humiliate the rival populations, but to allow soldiers to rape women as part of their salary, is pretty puzzling. Local Church sources from South Sudan, comment on the report on war crimes committed in South Sudan presented today in Geneva by the United Nations for Human Rights. According to the report, the systematic use of rape was also used as a form of remuneration for pro-government fighters.
"That said, the UN report is definitely reliable" our sources say. "We saw members of the inquiry committee do a thorough job on the ground until the end of January, meeting and interviewing local witnesses. The systematic use of mass rape to humiliate the opponent is terribly real and widespread". "In general UN reports are reliable because they refer only news that can also be verified " stress Fides sources.
According to the report, the scorched earth policy adopted by government troops and militias affiliated to them against the people considered loyal to armed opposition leader Riek Machar, resulted in mass rapes, looting and killings of civilians. The worst crimes were reported in Unity State. The report contains harrowing accounts of civilians suspected of supporting the opposition, including children and the disabled, killed by being burned alive, suffocated in containers, shot, hanged from trees or cut to pieces.
The civil war broke out in December 2013 and officially ended in August 2015 with the peace agreement which provides, among other things, the creation of a national unity government with the inclusion of Macher, in the role of First Vice President . "We are still living in limbo pending the formation of the government" say our sources. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 11/03/2016)

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