United Nations Radio

As the fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo escalates, UNICEF is concerned that violence against children is also on the rise, especially their recruitment as fighters.

Child Soldier

The UNICEF Representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pierrette Vu Thi, told UN Radio on the line from Kinshasa that the gains that have been made over the last four years in demobilizing child soldiers are now are at risk of being lost.

She says that since November 175 children are known to have been newly recruited by government or rebel forces, and in what she calls a particularly pernicious development -- a hundred children, who were previously demobilized have been re-recruited.

"These fighting groups look for children that have already had this experience and try to re-recruit them in the armed groups, because they are considered to be good fighters, etc."

Ms. Vu Thi says the UN Children's agency is continuing to negotiate with the armed groups to secure the release of children from their ranks, but the fighting is making it difficult to reach all the concerned groups.

Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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