|
Sudan Protests UNICEF Secret Child Soldier Airlift
WASHINGTON, March
4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The independent al-Sahafi al-Daouli newspaper said on Sunday that Sudan has formally protested to the U.N. children's agency for secretly airlifting around 2,500 child soldiers who had been serving with the opposition from civil war front lines.
Foreign Relations Ministry Undersecretary Awad al- Kerim Fadalla delivered a protest note on Saturday to Roger Gwada, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, criticizing the airlift.
Fadalla, who said that the government was neither consulted nor informed about the move, described the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) airlift as "an irresponsible act," said the newspaper.
"It represents a violation of the agreement signed with the U.N. which require[s] permission and dealings with complete openness and transparency," Fadalla said. He also called for a full explanation of what happened and an assurance that such actions would not be repeated.
UNICEF said that the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in southern Sudan had handed over the children, aged eight to 18.
A total of 2,500 child soldiers were transported from areas in the Bahr al-Ghazal region of southern Sudan to reception centers in the rebel-held town of Rumbek, from February 23rd to 28th, according to a UNICEF official in Khartoum.
Sudan said that the children should not be transported to an area controlled by the SPLA, but instead, they should have been transported to their families.
He said that the Sudanese government had repeatedly brought the issue of child soldiers recruited by the SPLA to the U.N.'s attention, saying that, "something had to be done."
The airlift followed a pledge by John Garang, SPLA leader, to UNICEF executive Director Carol Bellamy in October to demobilize his child soldiers.
According to Sharad Sapra, head of UNICEF operations in Sudan, an estimated 9,000 child soldiers had been serving in armed groups in southern Sudan before the evacuation.
Since 1983, the mostly Christian SPLA opposition in the south have been fighting for greater autonomy from the mainly Muslim, Arabic-speaking north.
|
