UN officials in Sierra Leone said on Thursday that there appeared to be evidence that rape was a possible contributing factor in the deaths of several women returning from RUF controlled areas in the east of the country, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard, reported on Thursday in New York.
Eckhard said that a human rights officer who had gone to the town of Kenema to assess the health and social services for rape victims had reported that doctors there “strongly suspect” that injuries caused by rape and sexual abuse had contributed to the deaths of several women abductees. Sexually transmitted diseases contracted by the women, such as HIV/AIDS, were also a factor. The doctors said that in the past weeks, 12 women and children had died from complications arising from physical abuse, poor medical treatment and malnutrition they experienced in RUF areas.
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