Rivals recruit 1,000 child soldiers in S Sudan conflict: UN

The UN says over 9,000 children have been recruited as soldiers in South Sudan’s conflict, by both the army and rebel forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday that the children were recruited as soldiers in the ongoing South Sudan’s civil war.

Pillay says the child soldiers were recruited by both government forces and forces loyal to rebel leader, Riek Machar. She also said many children have lost their lives in the fighting.

“More than 9,000 children have been recruited into armed forces by both sides…. Children have been also killed during indiscriminate attacks on civilians by both sides,” media outlets quoted Pillay as saying.

Meanwhile, the UN advisor on the prevention of genocide has said that the world body will never allow a repeat of the Rwanda genocide in South Sudan.

“The mass atrocities in Rwanda and Srebrenica provided a shock to the international community,” Adama Dieng said.

Senior UN officials made the remarks after touring massacre sites in South Sudan.

Thousands of people have been killed and many others displaced by more than four months of fighting between government troops and rebels loyal to the former vice president, Machar.

The fighting between troops of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, who is from the Dinka ethnic group, and Machar, a Nuer, erupted around the capital, Juba, on December 15, 2013.

The UN sources say despite January’s ceasefire, government and opposition forces are still engaged in heavy fighting in several areas including Jonglei, Unity and the Upper Nile states.