SPLA child soldiers demobilised in South Sudan

July 26, 2006 (NAIROBI) — Some 242 children who have been in the fighting units of the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) were on Tuesday disarmed and demobilised at a ceremony in the southern town of Tonj in Warab State.

Organised by the Sourthen Sudan DDR Commission, the ceremony was the biggest since the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) for southern Sudan was signed in January 2005. The agreement commits the SPLM/A and the government of Sudan to demobilise child fighters.

Benjamin Goro Gimba, the commission’s Executive Director, called for the children to be “given a chance to grow in a free environment”.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in the past five years more than 15,000 children have been disarmed, demobilised and returned to their families and communities from SPLA ranks. Of these, 900 were disarmed after the signing of the CPA.

(IRIN)