More child soldiers demobilized in Gahr al-Ghazal

Child Labour News Service, press release, 1 February 2002

The UNICEF disclosed that 909 child soldiers had been demobilised from the SPLA in Bahr al-Ghazal, southern Sudan, over the last two months. The removal of more than 900 children in December and January from the SPLA marks another significant inroad into the number of children being used as soldiers, UNICEF said. The 909 were in addition to the 3,551 child soldiers removed from the SPLA—the military wing of the rebel SPLM—between February and August of 2001. The demobilisation work was being carried out by an SPLM taskforce, which had received training and support from UNICEF. Of the 909 newly demobilised child soldiers, 233 had been demobilised in Aweil West, 170 in Gogrial, 361 in Aweil East and 145 in Aweil South, according to UNICEF figures. A total of 147 had already been reunited with their families. An additional 918 child soldier were currently taking part in demobilisation processes in Aweil West and Gogrial.