125 women and girls raped by gunmen in South Sudan civil war

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE- Sexual violence has been widespread in South Sudan’s civil war, and even under a recent peace deal, humanitarians have warned of higher rates of sexual assault as growing numbers of desperate people try to reach aid.

According to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid charity confirmed that in 10-day phase of violence in South Sudan, 125 women and girls reportedly raped by unknown gunmen.

The North African nation has suffered five years of brutal civil war and, despite a fragile peace accord signed two months ago by the government and rebel groups, remains split with ethnic grievances and awash with weapons.

MSF midwife Ruth Okello said, “In more than three years of working in South Sudan, I have never seen such a dramatic increase in survivors of sexual violence arriving at our programmes looking for medical care.”

“Some girls are under 10 years old and others are women older than 65. Even pregnant women have not been spared from these brutal attacks,” She added.

The women also told the charity that while the group of women were walking to the centre, they encountered larger groups of assailants as well as were been raped, they were being whipped and beaten with sticks and rifle butts, and robbed of anything of value.

South Sudan became independent in 2011, but in 2013, civil war broke out where 50,000 people have been killed. More than 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes. Around 6 million people are currently at risk of going hungry, and 70 percent of schools have been closed due to the fighting.

In September, military court in South Sudan had sentenced 10 soldiers to jail terms ranging from seven years to life for a rampage in which a journalist was killed and foreign aid workers were raped.