‘Horrific Sexual Violence’ Targets South Sudan Women

A wave of “horrific sexual violence” in South Sudan has forced 125 women and girls to seek emergency assistance from Doctors Without Borders in the past week, the medical charity said.

Victims have arrived at the group’s clinic in the northern city of Bentiu, reporting rapes and beatings by unidentified armed men between Nov. 19 and Nov. 29, it said Friday in a statement. Survivors, some of them children and others older than 65, were also whipped or clubbed with rifle butts and robbed of money, clothes and food distribution cards, it said.

The abuses come as the East African nation’s warring sides pledge support for a peace deal to end five years of conflict. There have been frequent reports of civilians being raped, killed and robbed by armed groups during the war that sparked a regional refugee crisis.