Sudan: Southern Forces Still Training Children
July 1, 2005
Posted to the web July 1, 2005
Nyal
Twelve-year old Riek Torgom, wearing an oversized army uniform and carrying a gun that appeared too heavy for him to lift, was among 50 child soldiers undergoing training at Majak military centre, western Upper Nile State in southern Sudan.
"I was recruited recently," Riek said in May. "I like nothing about the army. I only want to go to school, even if I am retained as a soldier."
Training alongside Riek was 14-year old Matiach Par.
"When our headman chose our family to offer a child to go for recruitment, I knew it was going to be me because I do not have another brother at home," he said. "I thought school and the army were the same. But if I could be allowed to go to school, I would."
He added: "The bad thing about the army is that there is nothing with which I can help my parents."
"We estimate that there are about 4,000 child soldiers remaining in the SPLM/A [Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement/Army]," Una McCauley, child protection officer with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Operation Lifeline Sudan, said.
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