Children recruited in CAR battles: UNICEF

UNICEF, along with other organizations, has been monitoring and verifying information on child recruits that have mostly been separated from families or lost their homes, Souleymane Diabate, the world body’s representative in CAR, said on Friday.

“A number of rebel groups and various pro-government militias have become more active in recent weeks in the capital city of Bangui and across the country,” he added.

The Central African Republic has been the scene of escalating conflicts since Seleka rebels launched an offensive against the government in December.

The rebels, who have been advancing toward the capital Bangui, accuse the government of President Francois Bozize of violating a past peace deal and want him to stand down.

According to UNICEF, an estimated 2,500 children were associated with miscellaneous armed groups in the African country before the conflict broke out in December.


The world body has warned that escalating tensions have given rise to the use of child recruits and made it difficult to determine an exact figure.

UNICEF says the conflict has already affected more than 300,000 children across CAR through recruitment, family separation, sexual violence, and forced displacement, which deprived them of educational and health services.

MRS/HMV

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/04/281815/children-recruited-in-car-battles-unicef/

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