United Nations Radio

The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict has welcomed the signing of an action plan by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to end the use of children as soldiers.

Radhika Coomaraswamy

The SPLA, which fought with Khartoum in the long civil war between the north and south, signed the plan in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on Friday.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Radhika Coomaraswamy, fresh from a nine-day visit to Sudan, said this commitment is a milestone in the efforts to end association of children with SPLA.

She also commended the Government of National Unity, which includes north and south Sudan, for progress made in the last two years to strengthen the protection of children.

However, Ms. Coomaraswamy remains concerned about the presence of children amongst non-State armed groups, including the Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Army factions in Darfur.

She said incursions into villages and abductions by the so-called Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda remain a threat to children in South Sudan.

Diane Bailey, United Nations Radio
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