The United Nations has refused to name the perpetrators in a case of the forcible recruitment of more than 1,000 people including at least 89 children in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state in the last two weeks.
The recruitment drive took place in an area controlled by the government and an allied Shilluk militia.
UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric was asked in New York by a journalist working for Inner City Press about reports that the “high-profile kidnapping of dozen of children” was carried out by “part of the army of South Sudan.”
He responded, “We’ve seen increased reports of kidnapping of children and forced enrollment into units… and I know it’s something that is of concern to all of us here. It is being looked at both by the Mission and by different departments here.”
The journalist asked again, “Do you expect the UN system to say who is responsible?” Dujarric responded, “I know they’re looking into these – we’ve seen these reports. We’re looking into them.”
The Upper Nile recruitment campaign comes ahead of the “final” deadline set by mediators for peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, which South Sudan’s president, General Salva Kiir, has declined to attend. An observer at the talks today reported that there have been no breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, Radio Tamazuj is informed that Johnson Olony, an ex-militia leader and now one of the top government commanders in Upper Nile State, was summoned to Juba to discuss the issue of child soldiers shortly after reports of the forced conscription emerged.
Olony is not yet reported to have arrived in Juba, however, and the army has not publicly confirmed that he has orders to release the conscripted children.
Representatives of General Kiir’s army were not available for comment today including the defense minister who was reportedly traveling and the army spokesman. The deputy spokesman said he had been left without authorization to speak.
Human Rights Watch earlier this month accused government forces in Upper Nile State, “especially” the forces of Johnson Olony, of recruiting children. Government Minister of Information Michael Makuei dismissed the HRW report saying it was authored by “people who must make their living by sucking the blood of others.”
For its part, UNICEF has condemned the recruitment of children but declined to name the group responsible, referring to it only as an “armed group.” Asked whether UNICEF was unsure of the identity of the perpetrators or simply unwilling to say, a spokesman of the aid group in South Sudan told Radio Tamazuj, “We have no verifiable evidence.”
Later, the aid croup confirmed, “UNICEF has also been in discussions with the state and national authorities.”
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also avoided naming the responsible group. “During the week, more than 1,000 people were reportedly conscripted in Wau Shilluk in Upper Nile State. They included 89 children abducted while taking their exams,” reads a bulletin published on Friday by OCHA.
Some civil society in South Sudan’s capital including a group led by James Aguer have reacted to the abduction case with calls for international intervention. Another civil society leader, CEPO chairman Edmund Yakani commented, “My question is why the UN is quiet for these five days without making any statement publicly that 89 children were abducted.”
Yakani added, “And for me the silence of 5 days demonstrates how UN leadership has some compromises in their given mandate.”
UPDATE, 23:55 Juba time: Brigadier James Bugo, second-in-command of Johnson Olony’s forces in upper Nile State, denied the claims by UNICEF that children have been abducted and recruited into the army in their area of operations.
Speaking by telephone, he said the organization is not telling the truth while acknowledging that their forces have recently carried out searches in the Wau Shilluk area in Makal County, where the boys were alleged to have been recruited in a house-to-house recruitment drive, but he said these searches aimed only to find soldiers who had deserted their units.
The commander stressed that they already have enough troops, disclosing that their forces now number more than 10,000.
Photo: A child soldier in Pibor, South Sudan (Al Jazeera)
Related:
UN kept silent on mass child abduction for nearly a week (25 Feb.)
Militia accused of child abductions ‘is part of S. Sudan army’ (24 Feb.)
89+ abducted schoolboys with South Sudan militia nearly a week already (21 Feb.)
SPLA-Juba abducting children near UN base in Malakal (16 Feb.)