UN says 145 child soldiers freed in South Sudan

26 October 2016, 5:15 pm

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The UN children’s agency UNICEF says it has negotiated the release of 145 child soldiers from two rebel groups in South Sudan.

“Our hope is that today’s release will be followed by many others,” Mahimbo Mdoe, UNICEF head in South Sudan, says in a statement.

Soldiers of the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) cross the Nile River in a boat near Malakal, northern South Sudan, on October 16, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / Albert Gonzalez Farran)

UNICEF estimates that around 16,000 children are currently fighting or working as porters with armed groups in South Sudan, including the national army. It says that more than 800 have been recruited this year alone.

Freed children are disarmed, given civilian clothes and drafted into a reintegration program. They receive counselling and efforts are made to trace their families.

— AFP