US report highlights abuse of civilians in conflict

The past year has seen a “disturbing trend toward the widespread abuse of civilians” trapped in conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, the U.S. government’s 1998 Report on Human Rights Practices said. The report, released on Friday, said insurgents and government forces had resorted to murder, rape and other human rights abuses and crimes against humanity and had engaged in “premeditated campaigns designed to wreak havoc and inflict terror on civilian populations.” The report’s overview cited the governments and rebel groups of the DRC and Angola, as well as the rebel forces in Sierra Leone, as having committed abuses against civilians in 1998. In Sudan, a “government-imposed food shortage” had put millions at risk of starvation, the report said.