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| Africa Subsaharan |
| U.N.: More than 550 Child Soldiers Freed in DR Congo |
| 2013-09-12 |
| [An Nahar] More than 550 children have left the ranks of gangs in the southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... province of Katanga, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... said Wednesday. "The awareness campaign calling for children to leave gangs succeeded in demobilizing 557 children between March and August," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement. Shelters have taken in 444 children, while another 113 have rejoined their families, the U.N. agency said. The gangs in the north of Katanga who have used child soldiers include the notorious Mai Mai militia, but the regular army has also used them, OCHA said Sylvestre Ntumba Mudingayi, OCHA's deputy communications chief, said that 27 of those freed this year had been in the regular army. The programme was carried out by the humanitarian group Action Against Poverty with support from the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), OCHA said. |
| Posted by:Fred |