SSudan promises probe into claims girls raped burnt alive

JUBA,

South Sudan government said Sunday
it was investigating United Nations
allegations that its troops raped then
burnt girls alive inside their homes
during recent fighting in the country's
civil war,

In a report released on Tuesday ,rights
investigators from the UN mission in
south Sudan (unmiss) said the 18 months
old war had been new brutality and intensity
"including gang rape"torture and gruesome
murders.,

"We have read the report and these egregious
act could only have been carried out by
egregious individuals ,Our army punishes
with impunity any acts that deviate from
the normal conducts of war"South Sudan
military spokesman Philip Aguet said in
a statement,

"Our army was created to protect our
women and children ,ensure their safety
and their dignity,If in fact the UN report
is accurate then the few individuals
responsible for this heinous crimes have
brought shame to the SPLA and that will
not be tolerated "he added.

The spokesman said any one deemed to
have participated in these horrifie crimes
will be brought to justice before out court
system and before God"b

Civil war began in December 2013 when
President Salva Kiir accused his former
deputy Rick Machar of planning a coup
setting off a cycle of retaliatory killing
that have split the poverty stricken,landlocked
country along ethnic lines,

The government side the Sudan People 's
Liberation Army (SPLA) launched a major
offensive against rebel forces in April
with fierce fighting in Northern Unity states
northern Mayom  district ,once a key oil
producing area,

"The UN report was based on horrific accounts
from 115 victims and eyewitnesses ,investigators
said they had collected ,at east nine seperate
incidents where "women and girls were burnt in
tukuls (huts)after being gang raped"as well as
scores of cases of sexual violence which included
numerous cases of mothers raped in front of their
children,

Others were simply "shot and killed"after being
gang raped it added  AFP