120 Rape Cases In South Sudan: UN

sex caseMEP: The United Nations (UN) announced Wednesday there has been at least 120 cases of sexual violence and rape against civilians in South Sudan’s capital Juba since fierce clashes erupted there three weeks ago.

Heavy fighting involving tanks and helicopters raged in Juba for several days between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those backing Vice President Riek Machar earlier this month.

The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan continued to receive “deeply disturbing reports of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, by soldiers in uniform and men in plain clothes against civilians, including minors, around UN House and in other areas of Juba,” Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the international body, said on Wednesday.

Haq said U.N. peacekeepers had stepped up patrols and were also providing “protection at designated times to women when they to go out of the Protection of Civilians sites to collect firewood and procure other non-food items.”

At least 272 people were killed before the leaders ordered a ceasefire in the conflict.

South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, descended into civil war after Kiir fired Machar as vice president in 2013. More than 10,000 people have been killed and some 2 million displaced, many of whom fled to neighboring countries.

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