The United Nations Mission in South Sudan or UNMISS condemned a series of brutal sexual attacks on women and girls travelling from their villages to Bentiu in Unity region.
Approximately 125 women and girls have sought medical treatment after been raped or sexually assaulted in a ten-day period as they walked along roads to Bentiu.
They report the attacks were carried out by young men in civilian clothes or military uniforms. In addition to being sexually violated, they were brutally beaten and robbed.
‘These attacks on vulnerable civilians are absolutely hateful and must stop,’ said head of UNMISS, David Shearer.
‘The violent assaults happened in a government-controlled area and it has primary responsibility for the safety of civilians’, he points out.
Shearer urged authorities to take immediate action to protect women and girls in the area and hold the perpetrators accountable.
He explains that UNMISS peacekeepers have immediately sent patrols to protect the area.
He added that human rights team has launched an investigation to identify the perpetrators.
UNMISS engineers are also clearing the road sides so that attackers find it harder to hide, says Shearer.
The Mission is also urging armed forces in the area to control their troops to ensure rascal elements within their ranks are not involved in these criminal acts, he appeals.