Dozens Of Children Killed, Raped In South Sudan — UNICEF

Forum 8 years ago

Dozens Of Children Killed, Raped In South Sudan — UNICEF

UNICEF Coordinator, Jonathan Veitch, on Tuesday in Juba, said children were being killed, raped and abducted during renewed fighting in South Sudan’s northern Unity State.


He said some of the fighters insisted that it was best to kill children before they grew up and returned for revenge.


Veitch said as a result of this, dozens of children, mostly boys, as young as 16 years old, have been targeted over the past two weeks.


He said an estimated 13,000 children were recruited as fighters by both sides of the South Sudanese conflict.


The North-East African country had been embroiled in civil conflict with ethnic undertones since December 2013 when power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his former Deputy, Riek Machar turned violent.


Veitch noted that successive ceasefires were unable to stop the fighting, which saw tens of
thousands killed and nearly two million people displaced.


He said that for now, over two million South Sudanese do not have enough to eat and more than four million others were in urgent need of water and sanitation. (dpa/NAN)
[ads4]