United Nations Children agency or UNICEF appealed to Commander Johnson Olony to release the children seized by armed men from a village in northern South Sudan two weeks ago.
In a statement CRN obtained on Saturday, UNICEF’s South Sudan Representative Jonathan Veitch appealed to Johnson Olony to immediately let the children go back to school and be with their families.
He urged the national government to use whatever influence it had to secure the children’s release.
Eye witnesses said many children were seen in a training camp near Wau Shilluk and that in Melut children as young as 12 years old were seen carrying guns but not in uniform.
Mr Veitch said reports indicate strong picture that the children were about to be dispatched to fight at Kaka, about forty five minutes north of Melut by boat.
UNICEF earlier reported that 89 children preparing for exams were forcibly recruited as child soldiers and that now it believes the number of children may be in hundreds.