Saturday, August 04, 2007
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NAIROBI (Xinhua) — The UN Children’s Fund yesterday called for protection of children in war-ravaged Somalia and warned of dangers of unexploded ordnance. In a statement received in Nairobi, Unicef said it remained distressed at the impact that violence is having on children in Mogadishu and called on all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of civilians, especially children.
"The indiscriminate killing of children makes a mockery of any movement toward reconciliation," Unicef representative Christian Balslev-Olesen said in a statement.
"For Somalia to move forward, it must ensure that its most vulnerable do not come under attack. Many children in the country today cannot simply play outdoors or walk to a mosque without the persistent threat of being killed."
The UN children’s agency said at least 20 children have died in the past month as a result of ongoing conflict within the Somali capital, while many others are among the hundreds of thousands to have fled the city in recent months.
The majority of the displaced are children, women and the elderly. It said children have been a direct casualty of the country’s halting steps toward peace.
Source: Xinhua, Aug 04, 2007