from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, Sudan
Sudan Bureau
KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – MILLIONS of children and youth in South Sudan face a growing threat of violence and recruitment to armed groups as the political situation deteriorates.
Years of conflict, combined with environmental disasters have left 4,5 million children in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and at risk of gender-based violence, malnutrition and disruption to their education.
With tensions rising in the country, War Child is concerned such violence could lead to the use or involvement of children in armed conflict around the capital Juba, Western Equatoria and Upper Nile states.
“The conflict escalations in South Sudan are really troubling,” said Zerihun Yohannes, War Child Country Director for South Sudan.
“Children who should be learning in the classroom or playing with their friends are instead being stripped of their rights and being forced again to bear the burdens of war.”
Yohannes said knowing from experience, as conflict rises, so too does the recruitment and use of children in war.
“Those children face severe challenges in all areas of their life, often suffering from psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.”
War Child calls on all parties involved in the conflict to seek a peaceful resolution that will protect children in South Sudan, many of whom have lived their entire lives surrounded by conflict.
The world’s newest country became independent in 2011.
It plunged into a civil war two years later.
In the latest crisis, deputy president, Riek Machar, is under arrest for allegedly plotting a rebellion against President Salva Kiir.
– CAJ News