Up to 6,000 child soldiers, some as young as 11, have been recruited by rebels and government forces in Sudan's Darfur conflict, the United Nations sa

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Published on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 by Reuters
Up to 6,000 Child Soldiers Recruited in Darfur: UN
by Andrew Heavens
KHARTOUM - Up to 6,000 child soldiers, some as young as 11, have been recruited by rebels and government forces in Sudan's Darfur conflict, the United Nations said.

Teenage fighters from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) sit in the back of an armoured vehicle at an undisclosed location in Sudan's Western Darfur region in this handout picture taken April 18, 2008 and released April 19. (REUTERS/Stuart Price/Albany Associates/Handout)Youngsters have repeatedly been seen carrying weapons, even though Sudanese law and international agreements banned the use of children in conflicts, the head of the U.N. children's fund (UNICEF) in Sudan Ted Chaiban told reporters late on Monday.

Chaiban said UNICEF had evidence that all of Darfur's main rebel groups used children, including the powerful Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur.

Government forces, including the army, the police, Darfur's Central Reserve Police and state-allied militias had also recruited under-18s, Chaiban said.

"All the armed factions and groups in Darfur have used children ... We have seen children in uniform and children carrying weapons with virtually all the forces," he said.

"An 11-year-old in this sort of situation basically looses their childhood. It dehumanizes them."

No one was immediately available for comment from Sudan's armed forces or Darfur's rebel groups.

U.N. agencies estimate more than four million people have been affected by almost six years of fighting in Darfur.

UNICEF says about half of those people are children.

"Of those roughly 700,000 were born since 2004, so all their life they have lived in an area that has been in conflict," Chaiban said.

One former rebel group had agreed to demobilize its first 16 child soldiers in January, after a campaign by local children's agencies and UNICEF, he said.

The faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Arcua Minnawi -- the only rebel leader to sign a 2006 peace deal with Khartoum - had also identified another 100 to be released from military service later next year, he added.

Children's rights groups were now hoping to sign similar demobilization deals with insurgents and had already secured agreements from the government to release children from service.

Most of the child soldiers identified by UNICEF and other groups were aged between 15 and 17, although some were as young as 11, said Chaiban.

Not all of them were directly involved in fighting, but international agreements banned all use of under-18s in conflict situations, even if they were only used as porters and in other support roles, Chaiban added.

UNICEF estimates there are a total of 8,000 child soldiers in Sudan, 6,000 in Darfur and the rest in southern Sudan -- which ended a two-decade civil war with the north in 2005 -- and the east of the country, the site of a low level insurgency against Khartoum.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Khartoum in 2003, accusing the government of neglecting the remote western region. Sudan's government mobilized mostly-Arab militias to crush the Darfur revolt.

Sudan denies accusations by activists that state-backed militias carried out mass killings and rapes during the counter-insurgency.



© 2008 Reuters
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MikeCorbeil December 23rd, 2008 9:53 pm
UN's working for western ruling elites, their "interests", [again].

Haiti; the UN employed and likely continues to employ mercenaries for UN "peacekeepers".

Not much credibility!

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WHAT IS BUSH DOING????

* P Trilla



We're sorry, but this discussion has just been closed to further replies.
D!ME QU33N

why has this discussion been closed.

WHAT IS BUSH DOING????

* Posted by D!ME QU33N on October 9, 2008 at 7:24pm in News
* Add as Friend View Discussions

The conflict began in February 2003. This summer the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, indicted Mr Bashir, the president, on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the war in Darfur. Vice President Ali Osman Taha told the UN General Assembly in New York late last month that the realization of peace in Darfur and the ICC's aims were two different tracks that could never meet. Last month, 31 civilians were killed in South Darfur when government troops opened fire on a camp for the displaced, claiming they were trying to confiscate illegal weapons from within the camp.The War in Darfur is a military conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Unlike the Second Sudanese Civil War, the current lines of conflict are seen to be ethnic and tribal, rather than religious. My question to you all is, if Sadam Hussein was a tyrant and we hung him then what do you call Omar Bashir? You can google the war if you don't believe me, but the government if helping to exterminate people. When the holocaust happened people ignored it because the German government successfully down played the genocide to the rest of the world. In these days with the help of technology Bashir can't hide what he is doing...So where is the aid for the Sudanese people why is it every time there is genocide or apartheid in Africa the world just looks on and does nothing :but a country, rich in resources, that kills it's people is of more moral value!!!! To them, and I mean those in power, lives mean nothing. Natural resources, on the other hand, mean money and THAT means everything to them...If Bush wanted to redeem himself now would be the time I mean he is STILL our president.

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Replies to This Discussion

D!ME QU33N Permalink Reply by D!ME QU33N 50 minutes ago
I bet if I posted naked hoes and shit you people would have a lot to say...


Derrik Permalink Reply by Derrik 38 minutes ago
he's on some bullshit!! that's what he is.


boubacar Permalink Reply by boubacar 37 minutes ago
i feel u girl i feel you, its true, and the sad part is they don't give a fuck about africa...by the way all 50s dickriders don't even know whats the capital of sudan!!!



knowledge Permalink Reply by knowledge 26 minutes ago
@boubacar
what does the post gotta do with 50?
anyways george bush cant redeem himself, he is already perceived as the worst president ever and they dont care about Africa because ever since i was a lil jit Africa has always been da Continent with the most struggles and shit and none of the world leaders are trying to assist them or make an effort to stop the genocide in sudan



D!ME QU33N Permalink Reply by D!ME QU33N 8 minutes ago
Thanks to everybody that voiced their opinions I just had to get this off my chest!!!!


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