Children: Victims of war
2003-08-12 19:04
Geneva - Children on the streets of the Liberian capital Monrovia are living in "absolutely horrifying" conditions, a spokesman for the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) said on Tuesday.
"The situation for children in the streets of Monrovia is absolutely horrifying and even desperate," Damien Personnaz told reporters, citing Unicef's representative in the city.
In the wake of the long-awaited departure into exile on Monday of president Charles Taylor, international aid workers were to begin returning to Monrovia on Tuesday after being evacuated in June when rebel forces began laying siege to the capital.
Many parts of Monrovia, where fighting has displaced some 250 000 people, have no food or water.
Personnaz said children "are in a situation where they have no choice. Either they die from exhaustion through lack of nourishment or they die from the bullets of child soldiers enrolled in two rival factions."
A rebel leader, Sekou Fofana, said on Tuesday that child fighters scattered across the country would not give up their weapons unless his movement, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), headed the new caretaker government, since they view the rebels as "neutral".
Demanding the leadership of the interim administration, Fofana said: "If the children don't know any neutral presence, they will not disarm; they are all armed today. They trust us, and if we head the government, they will disarm."
Family and community structures that usually protect children have broken down due to the mass movement of people inside Liberia provoked by the current civil war and a previous war sparked by Taylor in 1989.
"The absolute priority is the protection of children," Personnaz said.
A Unicef team arrived Monday in Monrovia, including three specialists in child protection.
And a plane carrying emergency aid from Copenhagen is due on Thursday or Friday in Monvrovia if security permits, Personnaz said. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA