SPLM/A begins demobilising child soldiers in Upper Nile

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has begun to demobilise a large number of child soldiers in the volatile western Upper Nile region of the south, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. SPLM/A commanders had on Thursday ordered the first batch of 94 children, during a ceremony in the village of Tam, to put down their weapons, return their uniforms, and go back to their families and schools, the agency said in a statement on Friday. UNICEF, which hailed the demobilisation, said the 94 were among an estimated 800 child soldiers to be demobilised in the area. The remainder were to be discharged in the coming days in a series of similar ceremonies supported by UNICEF, it added. Ben Parker, the spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, told IRIN that he hoped this would be the "beginning of the end" of child soldiers in Sudan. "These will be the last of child soldiers in the western Upper Nile region," Parker said. "What is important about it is that we had a window of opportunity to carry out the demobilisation western Upper Nile, which remains unstable due to militia activities." He said, however, that there were still other child soldiers in various places in Sudan who needed to be identified and demobilised. UNICEF has supported the demobilisation of child soldiers throughout southern Sudan since 2000. The agency, which also supported the establishment of a special task force by the rebel movement to demobilise children in rebel ranks, said it had helped in the demobilisation of about 12,000 SPLA children since it started operating in late 2001. Appealing for US $92 million for its 2004 programmes in both northern and southern Sudan, UNICEF said it hoped to dedicate more resources to the demobilisation and reintegration of children from government forces and allied militias. UNICEF support for the task force had totalled about $500,000, it added. The agency said the task force hoped to demobilise all the children in the SPLA before the signing of a peace agreement to end the 20-year conflict with the government. It added, however, that about 2,500 children would "for the time being" remain in the SPLA even after the western Upper Nile demobilisations were complete, many of them in areas that remained insecure.