According to a press release issued by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Ellen Margrethe Løj, said she was “appalled” by the level of destruction she witnessed in the main market and teaching hospital of the Upper Nile state capital amid reports of child abductions in the nearby community of Wau Shilluk.
A UNICEF education team recently reported, in fact, that 89 children were abducted in Wau Shilluk, where thousands of people have been internally displaced by the ongoing conflict. The actual number, however, could be higher.
According to witnesses, armed soldiers surrounded the community and searched house by house. Boys older than 12 years of age were taken away by force.
“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,” Løj said in the press release.
She added, “I stressed the importance of holding accountable all those who engage in this unacceptable practice, and I shared with the Deputy Governor the assurances given by President Salva Kiir Mayardit to me last month that the boys would be rescued.”
During her visit to Malakal, Løj met with local officials, including the Upper Nile state Deputy Governor, Gwinye Philipe Chan, to discuss the reports of continuing child recruitment. At the same time, she witness first-hand the devastation wrought by the country’s ongoing conflict.
Malakal has changed hands six times since the break-out of conflict in South Sudan, transforming what was once a vibrant river port into a ghost town during the months of intense fighting that engulfed the city, UNMISS noted.
The security situation in the world’s youngest country has deteriorated steadily over the past year since political in-fighting between the two leaders erupted in December 2013.