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Press Release

UNICEF Encouraged By The Release Today of 150 Child Soldiers In Sierra Leone

FREETOWN / NEW YORK, 4th June 2001 - UNICEF in Sierra Leone is encouraged by a further release of children by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Today the RUF released 150 children in the eastern border town of Kailahun, Sierra Leone.

Significantly the releases included 40 girls. At the release ceremony the RUF acknowledged that they had been influenced by the reaction by the child protection agencies concerning the low proportion of girls in the pervious releases. The RUF stated that the process of identification and hand-over of child combatants and separated children will continue.

This release together with a steady trickle of children handed over in Makeni since the large scale release 18 days ago, has brought the total number of children released by the RUF since May this year to 764. These releases are a result of the recent negotiations between the Government of Sierra Leone and the RUF.

After the ceremony the children were flown by helicopter to Daru town 45 km to the south west, where they will be registered in the national Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme and move into the Interim Care Centre in the town run by Save the Children UK. Through the network of child protection agencies their families will be traced and the children assisted to return home and re-start a normal life. The initial registration indicates that the majority of the children are from the eastern region of the country but with the considerable population displacement during the war, the family tracing will have to cover a very wide area.

UNICEF looks forward to a continuing series of releases of all children currently held by the armed groups in Sierra Leone. The releases are a necessary first step to fulfil the rights of the child in Sierra Leone and an important indicator for progress in the peace process. UNICEF will continue to provide financial and technical assistance to the child protection network agencies to provide immediate care, counselling, family tracing and reunification, education, and skills training.

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For further information, please contact:

Lynn Geldof, UNICEF Media, Geneva
e-mail: lgeldof@unicef.org (4122) 909-5531

Alfred Ironside, UNICEF Media, New York
(212) 326-7261 e-mail: aironside@unicef.org

***

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