UN warns of child abductions in southern Sudan

May 5, 2009, 11:04 GMT

Geneva - Over 140 children have been abducted in southern Sudan, with a likelihood of them being turned into child soldiers, the United Nations warned Tuesday.

The UN's children's fund UNICEF said thousands of children have been displaced from their homes owing to attacks from the Lord's Resistance Army in the area since the start if the year.

'We are very worried and concerned,' said Veronique Taveau, spokeswoman for UNICEF. 'Those children might end up as child soldiers.'

The LRA has a history of forcing children into combat and other roles.

UNICEF said schools in some parts of the southern Sudan could not open last month for the start of the new educational year owing to fighting and parents being afraid for the children's well-being.

Furthermore, vaccination officials working on polio outbreaks have also been affected by the violence and have stopped projects in several communities.

The LRA rebels fought a decades-long civil war that left nearly two million people displaced, thousands dead or mutilated and similar numbers abducted in northern Uganda.

As of late, the group has been on the run, with humanitarian agencies reporting the LRA was committing acts of extreme violence along the way.