File: Human rights experts say up to 65% of women and girls in South Sudan experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.

Two women have narrowly survived being gang-raped in the Sherikat area of Juba Monday night.

The sisters say three men attacked them at their home at around midnight when they were asleep.

“They entered our room and they told us to undress, they threatened us to undress by force. Then, they started burning hour room,” Apio Yanga, a 25-year-old girl recalls.

“They removed machetes and empty bottles, one of them hit my head using the bottle, I started crying then neighbors came out and they ran away.”

Apio who spoke to Eye Radio Tuesday said she was nursing her wounds at a nearby clinic.

Another girl, a 23-year-old Sarah Kiden says she does not feel safe anymore after the attack.

“One of them wanted to hit my head with a bottle, and another one tried to take the bottle from him and then the bottle hit my eyes and it is paining me now,” Kiden narrated.

“I started crying and screaming. Indeed they wanted to rape us, but we survived so one of them hit my sister’s head with the bottle.”

Ms. Kiden calls on the government to set up a police post in their area.

The two said they are now residing with the area chief, John Garang.

In South Sudan, cases of gender-based violence are widespread.

Eye Radio has been reporting disturbing stories of women and girls being raped in Juba and other parts of the country.

Last month, the UN Population Fund said a total of 6,295 reported incidents of Gender-based Violence were recorded between January 1 and September 30, 2020.

Last month, the government launched a special court to try gender-based violence cases.