An international pressure group has said that some of the worst violations of human rights in the world have been committed during the long running civil war in the West African State of Sierra Leone. A report by the New York based organisation, Human Rights Watch, says rebel forces have gunned down entire families in the streets, mutilated children and adults with machetes and abducted and sexually assaulted and abused young girls.
The report coincides with a visit to the country by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. It also details violations by the Nigerian led intervention force, which backs the government in Sierra Leone. However, it acknowledges that these have been on a lesser scale.
