AU accuses S. Sudan warring parties of human rights abuses

The African Union (AU) has accused South Sudan's warring parties of committing human rights violations such as murder, rape and sexual violence in the newborn state.

A report by the AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan (AUCISS) said "there are reasonable grounds" that both warring parties had committed various human rights abuses, including murder, rape and sexual violence, torture, outrages upon personal dignity, as well as targeting of civilian objects and protected property, which "may amount to violations of international humanitarian law."

AUCISS said its inquiry and investigation sites included the capital Juba and its environs, and rural areas surrounding major towns.

According to the report, in Juba, cases of sexual and gender based violence were allegedly committed by both parties against women, together with extreme cruelty exercised through mutilation of bodies, burning of bodies and others.

It noted that witnesses provided evidence of brutal killings in Bor Town, and abduction and disappearance of women from churches and the hospital in Malakal town.

The commission said Bentiu town was largely destroyed. In Leer County, it heard testimony of civilians, including children and teenagers, killed, of houses, farms and cattle burned, and of sexual violence.

South Sudan was plunged into violence in December 2013 when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Riek Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension.

The clashes have cost lives of thousands of South Sudanese and forced around 1.9 million to flee their homes. Endit