South Sudanese committed 'crimes against humanity'

Rebel and government forces have been fighting since December in the world's newest state

Both sides in South Sudan's conflict have committed crimes against humanity, including mass killings, sexual slavery and gang-rape, a UN report says.

The "widespread and systematic" atrocities were carried out in homes, hospitals, mosques, churches and UN compounds, it added.

The report called for those responsible to be held accountable.

Fighting between government and rebel forces broke out in December, leaving more than a million homeless.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir accused his sacked deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in refugee camps

Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then marshalled a rebel army to fight the government.

The battle assumed ethnic overtones, with Mr Machar relying heavily on fighters from his Nuer ethnic group and Mr Kiir from his Dinka community.

Mr Machar is due to arrive shortly in Ethiopia for talks with Mr Kiir, rebel spokesman James Gatdet Dak said, Reuters news agency reports.

The two leaders are due to meet on Friday - their first contact since the conflict erupted.

Mr Kiir and Mr Machar have come under intense diplomatic pressure from the UN and US to end the conflict.

Regional mediators have been trying to broker a peace deal between the two sides in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

They agreed that a truce - described as "30 days of tranquillity" - would come into effect on Wednesday in an effort to re-establish an ineffective ceasefire deal that was signed in January.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead in the capital, Juba, says the report by the UN mission in South Sudan is a hard-hitting catalogue of atrocities, based on interviews with 900 people.

It describes how, when the conflict erupted, security forces in Juba went from house to house rounding up and killing men from a particular ethnic group.

Tit-for-tat revenge attacks then spread across the country, the report says.

There is page after page outlining mass killings, rapes and gang-rapes and the targeting of civilians on ethnic grounds, our correspondent adds.

The UN has about 8,500 peacekeepers in South Sudan, which became the world's newest state after seceding from Sudan in 2011.

However, they have struggled to contain the conflict, and the government has accused the UN mission of siding with the rebels.

It denies the allegation.

Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital, Juba, in mid-December. It followed a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his ex-deputy Riek Machar. The squabble has taken on an ethnic dimension as politicians' political bases are often ethnic.                                ------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis

Alastair LeitheadBBC News, Juba

While not naming names, the report emphasises the need for accountability and proper investigations into the ethnic killings and sexual violence.

A "Crime Against Humanity" is a legal term, and citing the "widespread and systematic" nature of atrocities carried out by both sides, the UN states there are reasonable grounds to believe crimes against humanity have been committed.

While there are obvious difficulties in verifying reports of sexual violence in wartime, it is significant that the UN provides evidence of rape, gang-rape and "sexual slavery" by soldiers.

The report blames both sides, highlighting the tribal or ethnic nature of the violence perpetrated by both Nuer and Dinka soldiers and militia.

Confirming the details of hate speech broadcast in Bentiu after rebels recently took control of the town - Nuer men were urged to meet at the military base to go out and rape Dinka women - also takes the crisis to a far more worrying level.