FREETOWN, Aug 21 (Reuters) -- Senior ministers and U.N. officials joined hundreds of women in a beachfront, candlelit protest in Sierra Leone's capital as the killing of a 17-year-old girl highlighted a rise in violent crime in a country ravaged by Ebola.
The protest followed a spate of murders in the West African country, where senior police officers say law enforcement has been disrupted by the year-old mass outbreak of hemorrhagic fever.
The deadly virus has killed nearly 4,000 people in Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization, though the outbreak appears to be winding down, with no new cases reported in more than a week.
The discovery of Hannah Bockarie's body earlier this month close to a police station on Freetown's Lumley beach has raised alarm at a spike in gender violence.
Women's groups say she was gang-raped before she was murdered, though a post mortem has not yet been published.
"This candlelight vigil and procession is to shed light on the issue of sexual violence in Sierra Leone, remember Hannah and all unnamed victims of sexual violence," said Nicky Spencer-Coker, spokeswoman for PowerWomen232, the local organization leading the campaign.
During the Thursday evening protest, the mostly working-class women clad in black chanted "We want justice for Hannah! We want justice for women!" They later laid wreaths on the spot where her body was discovered.
"I will not settle for anything less than to see that justice is done because we don't want to see another Hannah again in Sierra Leone," said Minister of Gender Affairs, Moijueh Kaikai, offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of her killer.
The head of crime in the Sierra Leone Police, Morie Lengor, said the Ebola outbreak had reduced the number of police officers available to fight crime.
"Some have died, some have retired, yet we cannot recruit because our training school is being used as an Ebola treatment center," he said. He added that police had detained three suspects in connection with the killing.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, a Sierra Leonean, said in a statement that the girl's death was a reminder of the violence unleashed on women during the country's 1991-2002 civil war, in which more than 50,000 people were killed.
"It is extremely sad for me therefore to hear of the recent incident where a woman named Hannah was raped and killed on a public beach and pictures widely circulated in social media with no respect for her dignity," she said.
"It is also an affront to our country, our people and our government. It shows a disdain for the women of Sierra Leone."
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