Abducted children escape1

Two out of 21 children abducted by armed bandits from an orphanage in Angola’s central highlands province of Huambo earlier this month have managed to escape, a development worker with the agency running the orphanage told IRIN on Monday.

The two children aged 13 and 16 said they had been kidnapped by UNITA rebels and were afraid for the rest of their companions still being held. “The bandits are desperate and hungry and it’s turned cold in the mountains,” Rikke Vihom of the Angolan-based development agency ADPP, said.

The 21 children between the ages of 11 and 18 were abducted on the evening of 9 July by a group of 100 armed men that raided the Children’s Town centre at Quissala, eight km from Angola’s second city of Huambo. During the attack a 16-year-old boy was killed and four children between 14-16 years old were injured. It was the second raid this year on the orphanage. In the previous attack, three children and a guard were killed and six children were injured.

According to Vihom, the motives of the bandits appear to be the looting of the centre, with the abducted children forced to carry off blankets, mattresses and clothes. She however added that she was concerned that given the level of schooling the children had received, “they are likely to be used” by the rebels.

In the aftermath of the 9 July attack, in which the centre was badly damaged, the remaining 53 children now sleep in a building in the city provided by the Huambo provincial government. But Children’s Town, which was set up in 1991 and also serves as a school and teacher training institute, is still used during the day.

“That’s very important. It’s a dramatic time for the children and they need to keep going, and keep on with their education,” Vihom said.