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Human Rights Watch heard several reports of women being raped by government and JEM<br />
forces. A woman said her sister was gang raped by seven soldiers from both forces in<br />
Gandor village (also partly burned and pillaged by the forces), about 30 kilometers north of<br />
Leer town in February. Another woman who ran from Leer to a nearby village called<br />
Dhorgoni said her sister-in-law was raped there by six JEM soldiers in mid-February. 160<br />
Another woman was raped in Liep near Adok port, Leer county, by “Dinka” soldiers,<br />
according to relatives. 161 Community leaders said Leer, Geer, Gandor and Pilliny were all<br />
locations where rapes occurred, but Human Rights Watch could not verify these claims.<br />
Civilians were forced to run to swampy areas where they suffered extreme shortages of<br />
food. These locations were shelled by government tanks and shot by government soldiers,<br />
especially in locations near Adok port. 162 Many people who remained in the bush for<br />
months lived off of water lilies and livestock or fish. In early June, Human Rights Watch<br />
researchers interviewed new arrivals to the Bentiu UNMISS compound who had spent<br />
three to five months in hiding, and had become visibly emaciated. 163<br />
Attacks on Civilians in Bentiu Town by Opposition Forces, Mid-April 2014<br />
Opposition forces captured Bentiu on April 15. 164 During the attacks opposition forces<br />
carried out large scale killings of civilians, including Sudanese Darfuris in gruesome<br />
reprisal for JEM’s role in Unity state. UNMISS reported that opposition forces used the local<br />
radio station, Radio Bentiu, to broadcast hate speech, inciting killing and rape. UNMISS<br />
reported that hundreds of people were killed, including as many as 200 people seeking<br />
shelter in a mosque. 165<br />
160 Human Rights Watch interview, name withheld, Bentiu, April 8 2014<br />
161 Human Rights Watch interview, name withheld, Bentiu, April 8 2014. Human Rights Watch was also told of a rape in Guet,<br />
not far from Leer town by a large group of mixed government and JEM soldiers. Three women who had been hiding in<br />
Nhialdu,Tuarkien and other villages west of Bentiu town said there had been many rapes in that area when government<br />
forces and JEM attacked in March. Because of a lack of services for victims and extreme stigma rape is believed to be<br />
massively under-reported in South Sudan.<br />
162 Human Rights Watch interviews, names withheld, Bentiu, April 2014<br />
163 By early May MSF was treating 1,500 severely malnourished children under five years of age in Leer town. “Initial Rapid<br />
Needs Assessment, Leer County, Unity State, May 26 – 28, 2014”, unpublished document, May 2014, on file with Human<br />
Rights Watch.<br />
164 For a description of the fighting in northern Unity state ahead of the attack on the town see: “The Conflict in Unity State”,<br />
Small Arms Survey May 2, 2014 http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/facts-figures/south-sudan/conflict-of-2013-14/theconflict-in-unity.html<br />
165 UNMISS, “UNMISS Condemns Targeted Killings of Hundreds of Foreign and South Sudanese Civilians”, April 21, 2014.<br />
http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/unmiss-condemns-targeted-killings-hundreds-foreign-and-south-sudanesecivilians.<br />
Also see UNMISS, “Conflict in South Sudan, a Human Rights Report”, p47.<br />
65 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | AUGUST 2014