Community police in Agok town in the disputed Abyei area say they are seeing young girls living as street children for the first time.

A seven-year-old girl who recently began spending her days at Aniet market in Agok told Abyei Today radio programme that the women traders at the market treated her well and gave her food.

She said her mother had nothing to eat to give her, and her father was in Khartoum. She slept in the safety of the police station at night, but had been beaten by street boys during the day. 

Community police commander Dabaang Daak Akol said officers brought the girls to the police station at 7 pm to protect them from possible abuse by adults.

Dabaang urged the families of street children -particularly girls - to take them home before they came to any harm. Any parent who refused would be arrested, he warned.

Social welfare workers believe there are 476 street children in Abyei, including 16 girls. John Minyang Ngor, a child protection officer, said most were driven to life on the streets in order to find food.

Others had come to Abyei to escape conflict in Warrap and Unity states, and found themselves without any relatives, he said.

He said there were three centers to support street children.

Reporting by Abyei Today