Tears, chants as rebel child soldiers are freed in South Sudan

By Katy Migiro GUMURUK, South Sudan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The teenage rebel soldiers watched as their comrades handed over their assault rifles and stripped off their oversized khaki uniforms with the red, black and green South Sudan flag emblazoned on the right shoulder. Almost 150 boys, aged between 11 and 17, were demobilized in Gumuruk, eastern South Sudan, on Tuesday, as part of a peace deal signed in May between the government and militia leader David Yau Yau's South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA) Cobra Faction in restive Jonglei State. "I want to congratulate all of you on reaching peace," United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) country representative Jonathan Veitch said at the demobilization ceremony. "The song that you have sung, that is an adult struggle," said John Towan, wiping tears from his face.



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