Child soldiers return to their families in the south

At least 300 child soldiers in southern Sudan handed in their guns and uniforms on Monday and will return to their families as part of an ongoing demobilisation exercise supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the agency said. "The exercise was a success," said Ben Parker, spokesman for UNICEF's southern Sudan office. The demobilisation at Khorfulus, near Malakal town in Upper Nile state, was the biggest of its kind since the signing in January 2005 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), Parker said. Under the agreement, both parties committed to releasing all child soldiers in their custody. UNICEF is supplying materials to schools in southern Sudan and encouraging communities to send their children to school in a bid to revive the education system, which was destroyed during two decades of war between the government and the SPLM/A. "It is time for these children to go home, go to school and enjoy the fruits of peace," said UNICEF Sudan representative Ted Chaiban. The SPLM is now the governing party in southern Sudan. "We are determined to demobilise all child soldiers this year," said Benjamin Goro Gimba, the executive director of the Southern Sudan Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration Commission - the southern Sudanese authority in charge of the process - during the ceremony. Since 2001, an estimated 20,000 children from the former southern rebel forces have been disarmed and demobilised and returned to their families and communities with UNICEF support. However, there are an estimated 2,000 children still associated with the SPLA, mainly in noncombat roles and in remote areas. The children who left the military on Monday were mainly from an armed group called "Mobile", which recently joined forces with the SPLA. Many of their families lived in villages around Khorfulus and would rejoin them immediately. Arrangements were being made to transport those from further away back to their homes. The recruitment or use of children under age 18 in armed conflict is prohibited under international law.