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Burundi rebels vow to free child soldiers: AU
Bujumbura (AFP) Jan 17, 2009 Burundi's FNL rebel group vowed Saturday to release child soldiers in their ranks by the end of January, the latest step in the country's fledgling peace process, an official said. The National Liberation Liberation Forces (FNL), who last month committed to a peace process aimed at ending a 15-year conflict with Bujumbura, said they would free the children over the next few days. "The FNL have pledged to let go of the children among their fighters immediately and unconditionally, by January 30 at the latest," African Union special envoy Mamdou Bah told reporters. The pan-African body's representative in the small conflict-ravaged central African nation was reading a statement signed by the FNL. "I don't know the exact number of child soldiers in our ranks but there are many," FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana told AFP. Several experts said FNL child soldiers could be counted in the thousands. Mamadou Bah also said that the FNL had pledged to start demobilising and disarming by January 30. An area has already been prepared in northwestern Burundi for some 3,000 rebels to disarm. The nation has been struggling to emerge from a civil conflict that has left 300,000 dead since 1993. Related Links Africa News - Resources, Health, Food
S.Africa assures China of political continuity
Kleinmond, South Africa (AFP) Jan 16, 2009South Africa's Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Friday assured her Chinese counterpart that general elections were unlikely to change her country's political scene. |
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