ROME, JUNE 20, 2001 (Zenit.org).- The Sudanese government has announced that it will resume its bombing raids in rebel areas, while observers say it never honored a May 24 cease-fire anyway, CISA African agency reported.
During the cease-fire there were 11 aerial attacks on the civilian populations of Acumcum, Adet, Bararud, Lumon, Mapel, Marial Bai, Nyamlell, Tonj and Yabus. According to observers, the government´s latest announcement will only aggravate the situation in the war-torn nation, CISA said.
By September, the U.S. State Department hopes to complete a program to resettle close to 3,800 Sudanese children and youth from the Kakuma Refugee Camp to the northwest of Kenya, an endeavor that began last November.
These «lost children» of Sudan are part of the estimated 17,000 refugees who were separated from their parents and obliged to walk for four days to Ethiopia, covering more than 100 kilometers (62 miles), the State Department reported last week.
The Ethiopian government entrusted control of the refugee camps to the Sudanese Popular Liberation Army guerrilla movement. But the SPLA subjected the children and youth to military training and regarded them as potential recruits for the rebel army, according to Refugees International.
Some joined the guerrillas voluntarily, with the promise of receiving an education. But others were forced to the join the rebel forces by the SPLA, the IRIN agency reported.
