Rebels are regularly committing atrocities against civilians in areas not far from Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday.
It called on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and the Sierra Leonean authorities to intensify efforts to end the abuses.
HRW said it had documented numerous rebel abuses committed in January and February in Port Loko district, 40-65 kms from Freetown. The abuses, it said, included 14 cases of rape against girls as young as 11 years old, 118 abductions, three murders, and several cases of mutilation, forced labour, looting and ambushes, as well as the training of child combatants.
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