UNICEF estimates that around 16,000 children are currently fighting or working as porters with armed groups in South Sudan, including the national army (AFP Photo/Charles Lomodong)
Pibor, South Sudan: Some 145 child soldiers fighting for two rebel groups in South Sudan have been released, UNICEF has announced.
This is the largest number of children freed since 2015, when 1,775 children were released in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area, UNICEF press release said.
During their release from the Cobra Faction and the SPLA in Opposition, the children were formally disarmed and provided with civilian clothes. Medical screenings were carried out and the children were registered for a reintegration programme.
Over the coming months, all released children will receive counselling and psychosocial support. They will be placed in an interim care center, until their families can be traced. Following their reunification, the children's families will be provided with three months' worth of food assistance as a take-home package as well as livestock to supplement household income during the reintegration process.
An estimated 16,000 children have been recruited by armed forces and armed groups in South Sudan since the onset of fighting that began in December 2013. More than 800 children are estimated to have been recruited since the beginning of 2016. (QNA)
