United Nations Mission in South Sudan or UNMISS Chief strongly condemned the continuous targeting of civilians in Bentiu, Unity State, calling on both parties to exercise restraint and respect the rights of non-combatants.
Ellen Margrethe Loej was reacting to their Human Rights Division’s report indicating that opposition forces killed at least 11 civilians and committed other serious human rights abuses during an attack in Bentiu last October.
Mission’s Human Rights Division compiled a list of 14 names of women who were allegedly kidnapped by opposition forces during their five-hour occupation of Bentiu.
The report said their Rights officers also received testimonies from multiple sources alleging that opposition forces abducted and raped female residents of Bentiu after government troops withdrew from some parts of the city during the afternoon of October 29.
According to several witnesses, two women and a six-month-old baby were killed in their homes by opposition forces near a Catholic Church in the Dere neighborhood of Bentiu.
UNMISS Human Rights officers visited the opposition-controlled town of Nhialdiu on 24 November to investigate these and other allegations.