UN condemns abduction of 89 South Sudanese children by unidentified armed group

Boys as young as 12 were taken away by force by unidentified gunmen who went from house to house in a small village near Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile State, the United Nations’ Children’s Fund said in a report on Saturday.

None of the warring groups in the world’s newest country has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and the fate of the boys remains unclear, but in the past, children have been forcibly recruited before major offensives.

“The recruitment and use of children by armed forces destroys families and communities,” he said. “Children are exposed to incomprehensible levels of violence, they lose their families and their chance to go to school.” South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 but the birth of the new nation failed to brought with it challenges including deepening conflict along ethnic lines.

In December 2013, full-scale civil war broke out after Salva Kiir, the president, sacked his deputy Riek Machar.

An estimated 12,000 children are believed to have been co-opted into armed groups, while at least 10,000 people have been killed and 1.5 million internally displaced.

This week’s mass abduction comes just weeks after Unicef brokered a deal with one rebel leader to release hundreds of former child soldiers aged between 11 and 17 who had been fighting for David Yau Yau, a notoriously vicious rebel leader in Jonglei State.

A total of 280 children were released at the end of January of 3,000 who were promised their liberty from Yau Yau’s Cobra Faction.