Child abduction up in DRC
2006-06-27 23:14
Kinshasa - Children in parts of lawless
eastern Congo are at "enormous risk" of being abducted to fight
in armed groups as tensions run high ahead of landmark elections
in the giant war-scarred country, an aid group said on Tuesday.
Save the Children said it was deeply concerned by a rise in
the recruitment of children into armed groups in North Kivu
province in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo, after six
children were abducted and imprisoned last week.
"The situation for children in eastern DRC is utterly
horrific. Every day children are exploited and abused," said
Save the Children Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread in a
statement.
"With the elections pending and further outbreaks of
conflict possible, children are at enormous risk of being
abducted," the statement said.
Save the Children said soldiers last week ambushed a bus of
13 children formerly associated with armed groups.
Some of the
children and accompanying adults who were working with the
charity escaped but six were abducted and imprisoned in a
military camp, it said.
The abducted children were later released and are living in
temporary foster homes while Save the Children traces their
families, but three of those who escaped are still missing.
Clashes between rival groups and ethnic violence continue to
blight eastern DRC despite three years of official peace and
the presence of the UN's largest peacekeeping mission.
The July 30th presidential and parliamentary polls are meant
to draw a line under Congo's 1998-2003 war, which sucked in six
neighbouring countries and has killed four million people,
mostly from hunger and disease.
Amnesty International has said rebels in the DRC are
recruiting children as young as 12 - often by force - to swell
their ranks.