The head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Ellen Loej and US Ambassador Charles Twining visited Malakal today after reports that military forces in the area continue to hold children abducted and forced into their ranks last month.
Loej and Ambassador Twining met with the Upper Nile Deputy Governor Gwinye Philip Chan and ministers of the state government to discuss reports of the continuing recruitment of child soldiers in the state and other issues, according to a UNMISS press release.
“I expressed my grave concerns about the forcible recruitment of boys recently at the Wau Shilluk village near Malakal and elsewhere in Upper Nile State,” said Loej.
The UNMISS official, who claims to have received assurances from President Salva Kiir last month that the boys would be released, conveyed these “assurances” to the deputy governor.
“I shared with the Deputy Governor the assurances given by President Salva Kiir Mayardit to me last month that the boys would be rescued,” she said, as quoted in the UNMISS statement.
Loej and Twining also met with UNMISS State Coordinator Deborah Schein, representatives of UN agencies and Brig. Gen. Bayarsaikhan Dashdondog, the Mongolian commander of UNMISS forces in Sector North, which encompasses Upper Nile and Unity states and northern Jonglei.
The UN and US official also visited Malakal town and hospital, which were heavily damaged last year, and the UNMISS protection-of-civilians site.
File photo: President Salva Kiir handing out school bags to children, February 2015 (UNMISS/JC McIlwaine)
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