/ 23 December 2008

Unicef says 6 000 child soldiers active in Darfur

There are about 6 000 child soldiers in Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur where about two million children have been affected by conflict.

There are about 6 000 child soldiers in Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur where about two million children have been affected by conflict, a senior official from the UN’s children fund said.

Ted Chaiban, the outgoing Unicef representative to Sudan, was speaking to reporters on Monday in comments that shine the spotlight on the brutality and increasingly complicated conflict in Darfur, which is nearing its seventh year.

Out of 400 cases reported this year, the youngest soldiers associated with Darfur rebel groups were 11, but most were aged between 15 and 17.

“All the armed factions and groups in Darfur have used children. The number of children [soldiers] that we estimate exist in Sudan is 8 000 children. Of the 8 000 children, we estimated that 6 000 are in Darfur,” Chaiban said.

“That doesn’t mean they’re all carrying guns and fighting, but they are present with armed groups and we have seen virtually with every one of the forces, children in uniform and children carrying weapons,” he said.

Juveniles are also associated with the Sudanese armed forces, he added.

“An 11-year-old basically loses their chances, it completely dehumanises the child,” warned Chaiban.

Anyone under 18 is considered a child under international and Sudanese law, yet in many tribal cultures, they are viewed as adults after puberty.

“Two million children have been affected by the conflict and of those two million children, I think roughly 700 000 were born since 2004, so all their life they’ve lived in an area that’s been in conflict,” said Chaiban.

Officials estimate that children make up roughly 50% of the more than four million people considered conflict affected in Sudan’s western region.

Unicef has spearheaded efforts to demobilise child soldiers in Sudan.

This year 99 children associated with the rebel Justice and Equality Movement were demobilised after being arrested following an attack on Khartoum.

Another 116 from a faction headed by Minni Minawi, who signed a deal with the government in 2006, are expected to demobilise in coordination with Unicef.

In 2006, the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement faction led by exiled Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nour also freed about 100 children.

The other 2 000 child soldiers in Sudan are spread across the east and south, where 15 000 have been demobilised since before the landmark peace agreement ended decades of civil war in 2005, Chaiban said. – AFP