A/HRC/34/63 Shilluk. The Commission visited the makeshift hospital in Wau Shilluk after the incident and interviewed victims, including young children. In January 2017, clashes broke out again in Upper Nile State, with fighting intensifying towards the Paloch oil fields, Renk and Malakal. As a result, members of the Shilluk ethnic community were forced out of their homes. The town of Wau Shilluk is now reported by UNMISS to be deserted after intense fighting displaced more than 20,000 inhabitants. 30. In central and southern Unity State, a combination of drought and lost opportunities for cultivation, the ongoing conflict, and looting and insecurity have led to a deterioration in living conditions. SPLA is alleged to have attacked six villages on 13 and 14 October 2016 in Unity State. During the attacks, SPLA soldiers allegedly fired at civilians indiscriminately, pillaged private property and burned down at least 40 houses. Further clashes in January 2017 between SPLA and SPLM/A in Opposition left five civilians dead. 31. In November 2016, on the road from Lankien (northern Jonglei State), armed Murle tribesmen in green military uniforms with the South Sudan flag are alleged to have killed five civilians and abducted a child. The perpetrators were allegedly in possession of AK-47 rifles, which were reportedly marked “South Sudan Police”. In November, 300 cattle were also taken, allegedly by armed Murle tribesmen. In January 2017, 11 people were killed and 13 wounded in a cattle raid by Murle tribesmen. 32. Violent acts have also been directed against members of the Dinka tribe. These acts were blamed by the Government on SPLM/A in Opposition, which in turn denied having any involvement in them. In the aftermath of the violence in Juba in July 2016, several attacks were made on the main roads linking the capital to Central Equatoria, resulting in the targeted killing of Dinka women and children. SPLM/A in Opposition has allegedly also attacked hospitals and religious sites in South Sudan; given the difficulty of access to the areas it controls, reliable information is hard to obtain. It was allegedly responsible for the abduction of 20 staff members of international non-governmental organizations, who were unlawfully detained, threatened, interrogated, severely beaten and subject to extortion. 33. The Commission raised the issue of denial of humanitarian access with the Chief of Staff of the South Sudan Army, who denied the allegations. The reality on the ground nonetheless remains challenging, as SPLA soldiers and members of the security services often deny access arbitrarily. B. Sexual and gender-based violence 34. In 2014, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict stated that sexual violence was a consistent characteristic of the conflict in South Sudan.4 With the recent spread of the conflict to the Equatorias and Unity, Upper Nile and Western Bahr el Ghazal States, sexual violence has increased even further. In February 2017, the South Sudan Protection Cluster reported a staggering 61 per cent increase in the number of cases of sexual or gender-based violence reported between 2015 and 2016.5 35. In the Protection Strategy baseline survey conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on behalf of the humanitarian country team in October and November 2015 in four protection-of-civilians sites in Juba, it was found that 72 per cent of women had reported having been raped since the conflict broke out – the vast majority of 4 5 8 “UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict concludes first mission to South Sudan with agreement with Government”, United Nations, press release, 13 October 2014. South Sudan Protection Cluster, Protection Trends: South Sudan, 2015 – 2016, February 2017, p. 14.