![[Sudan] Child soldiers at an SPLM/A training centre in southern Sudan, May 2005.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20056290.jpg.webp?itok=SJDmxbb4 "Reconciliation could lead to disarmament of child fighters in southern Sudan.")
Children are still being recruited by the Sudanese army and various armed groups, despite the signing of formal peace and ceasefire agreements, a United Nations report has found.
"It is clear that thousands of children are still associated with armed forces in southern Sudan, awaiting demobilisation," UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said in a report released on Tuesday. "Recruitment continues to be widespread because the war in southern Sudan has created a plethora of government-aligned militias or other armed groups," the report added.
Despite the obligation under the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement to demobilise all children in the ranks of the former warring parties by July 2005, reports from Jonglei State in southern Sudan confirmed that the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the Sudanese Armed Forces, community defence groups of the so-called White Army and other militias continue to recruit and use children.
In May 2006, 113 armed youth of the White Army were killed when the SPLA attacked the community defence group and an allied militia force during a forced disarmament operation near Motot town in Jonglei.
In the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur, the report estimated that thousands of children were still actively involved in conflict between May and July, despite the signing of the 5 May Darfur Peace Agreement and earlier ceasefire deals.
Annan also warned that the renewed conflict in Darfur had drawn attention away from the continuing practice of ethnically targeted sexual violence against girls and women, particularly by the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied Janjawid militia.
"Grave sexual violence against girls and women in Darfur continues to worsen," he stressed. "Girls have been targeted in inter-ethnic conflicts as a deliberate form of humiliation of a group, and as a means of ethnic cleansing. Rape has been used to force displacement."
A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last year indicated that 40 percent of victims were younger than 18.
The Secretary-General observed that the government of national unity and the government of southern Sudan bore direct responsibility for the recruitment and use of child soldiers and strongly urged the leaders of both governments to stop the practice.
The Secretary-General said he was deeply concerned about the increase in sexual violence against girls and women in Darfur - as well as about reports of the systematic abduction and kidnapping of children there - and called on the national authorities to "rigorously investigate and prosecute" those responsible.
He also expressed his deep concern over the continued lack of access to child protection activities in many areas of Sudan, particularly in the east.
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"It is clear that thousands of children are still associated with armed forces in southern Sudan, awaiting demobilisation," UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said in a report released on Tuesday. "Recruitment continues to be widespread because the war in southern Sudan has created a plethora of government-aligned militias or other armed groups," the report added.
Despite the obligation under the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement to demobilise all children in the ranks of the former warring parties by July 2005, reports from Jonglei State in southern Sudan confirmed that the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the Sudanese Armed Forces, community defence groups of the so-called White Army and other militias continue to recruit and use children.
In May 2006, 113 armed youth of the White Army were killed when the SPLA attacked the community defence group and an allied militia force during a forced disarmament operation near Motot town in Jonglei.
In the troubled western Sudanese region of Darfur, the report estimated that thousands of children were still actively involved in conflict between May and July, despite the signing of the 5 May Darfur Peace Agreement and earlier ceasefire deals.
Annan also warned that the renewed conflict in Darfur had drawn attention away from the continuing practice of ethnically targeted sexual violence against girls and women, particularly by the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied Janjawid militia.
"Grave sexual violence against girls and women in Darfur continues to worsen," he stressed. "Girls have been targeted in inter-ethnic conflicts as a deliberate form of humiliation of a group, and as a means of ethnic cleansing. Rape has been used to force displacement."
A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last year indicated that 40 percent of victims were younger than 18.
The Secretary-General observed that the government of national unity and the government of southern Sudan bore direct responsibility for the recruitment and use of child soldiers and strongly urged the leaders of both governments to stop the practice.
The Secretary-General said he was deeply concerned about the increase in sexual violence against girls and women in Darfur - as well as about reports of the systematic abduction and kidnapping of children there - and called on the national authorities to "rigorously investigate and prosecute" those responsible.
He also expressed his deep concern over the continued lack of access to child protection activities in many areas of Sudan, particularly in the east.
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