An aid worker operating in the United Nations Mission compound in Wau has urged for urgent deployment of more UN protection forces in Wau site after a woman was found raped and killed near the base.

The humanitarian aid worker who preferred anonymity told Radio Tamazuj that UN peacekeepers are not going out on patrol to escort women who go searching for firewood.

“One woman went to the forest yesterday and never come back, only another young man went there this morning found the dead body and the lady was slaughtered laying down naked. That is now two issues of been either raped before slaughter or even raped after that,” he said.

“It is the third incident of its kind, and we have being advocating that at least there should be an escort system that would prevented such brutal way of dealing with women but unfortunately it never worked,” the aid worker added.

UNMISS has faced difficulties completing the deployment of a proposed 4,000-strong reinforcement and also its Kenyan peacekeeping forces began withdrawing this month. The mission's resources have also been strained by the task of accomodating and protectiong about 204,500 civilians in 'protection sites'. 

Peacekeepers in Wau reportedly said that the place is “very vast and they don’t have enough soldiers to go all around and wait until the women finish all what they wanted to do," according to the aid worker. 

“You know some of them [peacekeepers] are still there, although some of them are being repatriated to Kenya but the bottom line here is the communities inside Poc here are asking them to make escort for women who goes out to get firewood and others need in the forest,” he stressed.

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