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Government promises to demobilise children

    ABIDJAN

    Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah promised in a statement issued on Wednesday that all combatants under the age of 18 serving in pro-government forces would be demobilised.

    The statement followed an outcry in the UK after British newspapers published a photograph of a 14 year-old boy carrying what appeared to be a British rifle, the BBC reported.

    Britain said this week it would make about 10,000 rifles, along with ammunition, available to the Sierra Leone army.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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