AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Amnesty International: "Thousands of women, girls and men victims of war rapes"

Tuesday, 25 July 2017 violence  

Juba (Agenzia Fides) - Large-scale sexual violence were carried out against thousands of women, girls and men, with victims selected on the basis of their ethnicity. This is what Amnesty International denounces in a report on sexual violence in South Sudan, based on interviews with 168 victims of rapes in South Sudan and in refugee camps in Uganda. South Sudan has been in a civil war since December 2013 which sees pro-government forces of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against opposition forces of former First Vice-President, Riek Machar, a Nuer, and their respective allied armed groups. According to Amnesty International's report entitled "Do not remain silent", all parties resort to rape as a weapon to physically and psychologically destroy the "rival" ethnicity.
Rapes occur not only during the fighting, but also in the camps where millions of refugees flee from war zones. The report interviews 16 men who claimed they had been castrated or were pierced with needles.
"Some of the attacks appear designed to terrorise, degrade and shame the victims, and in some cases to stop men from rival political groups from procreating", reports Amnesty International.
According to a report released last year, 70 percent of women in U.N. camps in the capital, Juba, having reportedly been raped since the start of the civil war. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 25/7/2017)


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