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S. Leone Rebels to Release Another 600 Children
Sierra Leone's rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) is due to release approximately 600 child combatants and children associated with the fighting forces to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) on Friday, according to reports Thursday.
"UNAMSIL welcomes the release of the children as a goodwill gesture on the part of the RUF and expects more to be released as the peace process moves forward," a UNAMSIL statement was quoted as saying in the capital Freetown.
The children are to be released in Makeni, 138 kilometers northeast of Freetown, to Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Oluyemi Adeniji, government officials, the diplomatic corps and chairman of the RUF Political and Peace Council Omrie Golley, the UNAMSIL said.
The release of child combatants is a major step by the RUF in its compliance with the Lome, Abuja and Freetown agreements signed by parties to the Sierra Leone conflict. Hundreds of child fighters were released by the RUF earlier last week.
After the children are handed over to UNAMSIL, they will be registered and put under the care of the United Nations Children's Fund and other child protection agencies.
With the continued deployment of the United Nations peacekeepers in the former RUF-controlled eastern and northern regions of Sierra Leone, the long-awaited peace is seemingly under due process in the west African country.
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