IRC ready to receive former child soldiers

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it is ready to receive another 100 former child soldiers who are part of a larger group released recently by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The committee, from its New York headquarters, reported that an exact date had not been set for the children to be handed over to the IRC in the southeastern town of Kenema, where the organisation has an interim care centre. The children expected there are from the eastern districts of Kono and Kailahun. Those from the Southern Province will be taken to IRC’s facility in the southern town of Bo. “These children now have a second chance at having a normal childhood and the IRC will do everything it can to speed their healing and return them to their families,” Robyn Ziebert, IRC director of programmes in Sierra Leone, said. IRC will provide counselling and other psychosocial services, education, skills training and social activities useful for their reintegration into society. The committee is also to begin a tracing service to reunify the children with their families. “However, the most crucial part [of] our work comes after reunification, in supporting the children, their families and their communities during the difficult reintegration period,” Marie de la Soudiere, director of IRC’s programmes for war-affected children, said. During the past year, the IRC has helped 1,000 former child soldiers and separated children in Sierra Leone.