RUF still raping, abducting and killing, HRW says

Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels are raping, abducting and killing refugees fleeing camps in Guinea, thereby casting doubt on the viability of a proposed safe passage for the refugees through RUF lines, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Tuesday. The New York-based rights group reported that it had documented the abuses from December 2000 through mid-March in the Koinadugu, Kailahun and Kono districts of eastern Sierra Leone. "The so-called safe passage for refugees is far from safe," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division of Human Rights, said. In February, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers had suggested a safe corridor through rebel lines as one of the options for rescuing tens of thousands of refugees trapped in the Parrot's Beak, southern Guinea, by fighting between Guinean forces and insurgents. Many did not wait for the passageway to be established but walked on their own to Sierra Leone, where RUF rebels committed atrocities against them, HRW reported. "They [the rebels] said they were not going to kill us, but that they would use us until they would be satisfied. They also said they wanted peace," one woman who was gang raped, told HRW. The HRW report contains the testimonies of several other victims. "Despite assurances received by UNHCR during its meetings with RUF leaders in Sierra Leone, any form of overland travel by refugees through RUF territory should be discouraged," HRW said. [The report and the testimonies can be read on http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/04/refugee-0403.htm]