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State Department accuses both sides of abuses

A US State Department report has accused both sides in the Sierra Leone conflict of human rights abuses. According to the Sierra Leone country report on human rights practices for 1998, the rebels were guilty of “numerous egregious abuses, including brutal killings, severe mutilations and deliberate dismemberments, in a widespread campaign of terror agains the civilian population, known as ‘Operation No Living Thing’ “. But the report also accused the government of interfering with humanitarian relief efforts, arrest and detention without trial under emergency decrees and restrictions on freedom of the press.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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