The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) is concerned that rival armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are recruiting child soldiers again, two months after the government and rebel groups brokered a fragile peace deal.
Julien Harneis, a representative of Unicef, said more child soldiers have been recruited in the two eastern Kivu provinces in the last two months after a post-ceasefire lull.
Meanwhile, Unicef has freed up to 300 child soldiers, though not all of them are back with their families, he said. Harneis added that some children have been stuck in Bukavu’s Unicef refugee for up to nine months.
Armed groups have recruited between 2 000 and 3 000 12- to 18-year-olds in the east of the country, Harneis said.
Despite a ceasefire in January, violations occur almost daily in both Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu, where conflict has separated 7% of children from their parents and displaced 500 000 people, the UN said.
The report of renewed recruiting came after the UN’s human right’s body in Geneva unanimously agreed last week to end the mandate of the special envoy on human rights to the vast Central African country. — AFP
