{"id":33000,"date":"2017-03-04T15:45:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-04T15:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/four-south-sudan-soldiers-arrested-over-village\/"},"modified":"2017-03-04T15:45:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T15:45:03","slug":"four-south-sudan-soldiers-arrested-over-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/four-south-sudan-soldiers-arrested-over-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Four South Sudan soldiers arrested over village rape spree"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Four South Sudanese soldiers have been arrested over the mass rape of about a dozen women and girls in one village last month, the army spokesman said Friday.}<\/p>\n

The incident took place in Kubi some 40 kilometres south of Juba as soldiers raided the village looking for suspects in the killing of an army general by unidentified gunmen.<\/p>\n

Local media reported the soldiers had gone on a rampage, raping and torturing at least 11 women, including a 13-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

{{Sexual assaults }} <\/p>\n

“Investigations were carried out and four SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) officers were arrested,” said spokesman Brigadier General Lul Ruai Koang.<\/p>\n

One of those detained is the commander of the men accused of carrying out the sexual assaults, and will not himself face rape charges.<\/p>\n

Another suspect had been arrested but managed to escape from a detention facility.<\/p>\n

Koang said that the three accused of rape had been identified by the victims in a line-up and later confessed.<\/p>\n

{{Misled by Satan }} <\/p>\n

In their defence one soldier claimed to have been misled by Satan, while the others argued they were drunk.<\/p>\n

“Let our people rest assured that SPLA will keep on doing its best to ensure that rogue soldiers are punished for crimes they commit,” Koang said.<\/p>\n

President Salva Kiir’s troops and allied militia have been accused of ethnic massacres, rape and sexual slavery, looting, pillage and the forced recruitment of child soldiers in the country’s three-year long civil war.<\/p>\n

Rebels have perpetrated similar crimes.<\/p>\n

{{South Sudan crisis }} <\/p>\n

The conflict broke out in 2013 after Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.<\/p>\n

A brief peace deal was left in tatters when fierce battles erupted in Juba in July last year.<\/p>\n

The army announced in October it had arrested and convicted some 80 soldiers accused of looting and murder in the capital during the outbreak of fighting.<\/p>\n

However none have been held for the widespread rape of locals and several Western aid workers.<\/p>\n

\"South<\/figure>\n

AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Four South Sudanese soldiers have been arrested over the mass rape of about a dozen women and girls in one village last month, the army spokesman said Friday.} The incident took place in Kubi some 40 kilometres south of Juba as soldiers raided the village looking for suspects in the killing of an army general […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-33000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33000"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=33000"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=33000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}