Juba — Scores of children seized by armed men from a village in northern South Sudan two weeks ago remain forcibly recruited as child soldiers, despite intensive efforts to locate and free them.
One week ago UNICEF reported that 89 children preparing for exams were forcibly recruited as child soldiers, but the organization now believes the number of children may be in the hundreds. In addition, adult males were also forcibly recruited during the February 15 and 16 raid.
Following information provided to a team of staff from UNICEF and UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism partners, UNICEF is confident that the armed group which took the children was a Shilluk Militia under the control of Johnson Oloni. This militia is aligned with the Government's SPLA forces.
In an intensive information gathering exercise, both in Juba and in Upper Nile State (where the seizures took place), UNICEF and MRM partners have tried to piece together what happened during and after the raid and to discover the location of the children. A formal UN Monitoring Report of a grave violation of child rights is being prepared. One of the challenges hampering evidence gathering has been a heavy militia presence remaining in Wau Shilluk, thus making it impossible to receive first-hand information.
However, from reports received so far it is becoming clear the children are not together in a single group. UNICEF understands some of the children - including some of the school boys - were allowed back into their village to eat with their parents and in some instances some children were allowed to go to school. They were then taken away again at night.
In discussions with the SPLA in Melut it was confirmed the forced recruitment of the children took place and many of the children were being sent to Melut. Witnesses also stated many children have been seen in a training camp near Wau Shilluk and that in Melut children as young as 12 years old were seen carrying guns but not in uniform.
The SPLA stated that the Johnson Oloni militia was outside its control.
UNICEF Representative in South Sudan, Jonathan Veitch said when you put all these different witness reports together a strong picture emerged that the children may have been about to be dispatched to fight at Kaka, about forty five minutes north of Melut by boat.
"We fear they are going from the classroom to the front line," said UNICEF's Representative in South Sudan, Jonathan Veitch. "UNICEF appeals to Johnson Oloni to let those children go back to school and be with their families, immediately."
Veitch also urged the Government of South Sudan to use whatever influence it had to secure the children's release.
Source http://allafrica.com/stories/201502280272.html
Newer articles:
- S.Sudan summons general accused of mass child soldier recruitment - 03/03/2015 13:46
- South Sudan: Unicef Fears Scores of Kidnapped Children in South Sudan Could Be Sent to Front Lines - 03/03/2015 10:17
- Secretary Kerry on South Sudan Negotiations - 03/03/2015 03:44
- over 121,000 S’Sudanese refugees arrive in Sudan – UN - 02/03/2015 17:14
- S Sudan "acts on boys's abductions" - 02/03/2015 13:33
Older news items
- UNICEF: Hundreds of South Sudanese boys believed abducted - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois Missouri News, Sports - 28/02/2015 16:05
- China questions U.S. threat of U.N. sanctions on South Sudan - 27/02/2015 20:16
- VIDEO: Has US failed South Sudan? - 27/02/2015 18:09
- Emsworth minister returns from Africa an "optimistic realist" - 27/02/2015 05:04
- UN urges Sudan and South Sudan to resolve Abyei deadlock - 26/02/2015 23:43
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan lawyers petition against extension of transitional period - 26/09/2024 12:37
- South Sudan military blames rebel group for deadly bus attack - 26/09/2024 12:33
- South Sudan medics trial AI app to identify snakes and improve bite treatment - 26/09/2024 12:31
- South Sudan: extension of transitional government will compound dire human rights crisis - UN experts - 26/09/2024 12:26
- Aiding Flood Victims in South Sudan, Faith Leaders Work on Long-Term Solutions - 26/09/2024 12:21
Random articles (all categories):
- China donates $1.8 mln to fight cholera, malaria in South Sudan - 30/07/2017 20:14
- US-Africa summit invites Zimbabwe in from the cold - 21/09/2022 00:59
- South Sudan bishop wins Roosevelt freedom award for his peace village - 07/02/2018 10:13
- Kenya Morans sink South Sudan in Nyayo thriller - 18/01/2020 11:33
- Response to the Statement of the so-called “Eastern Nile State Political Activists” of the Ngok Dinka in Upper Nile State - 02/03/2016 12:56
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 49983 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22113 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21204 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 18522 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 16553 times