2,000 Babies Born In Captivity

By Dennis Ojwee and Ali MaoABOUT 2,000 children have been born in rebel captivity in Sudan since 1986.Mrs. Angelina Atyam, the chairperson of national Concerned Parents Association (CPA), told northern journalists in a one-day workshop at Lira White House Hotel yesterday that about 14,000 girls had been abducted by the rebels in the same period.She said UNICEF had compiled the statistics.Atyam said about 8,000 children have so far returned from captivity and close to 6,000 were still unaccounted for. She said many are feared to have died in the war.She said others could have died of starvation and other diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and measles during captivity.Atyam commended the non- governmental organisations dealing with the war-affected children in the north.She named them as Kitgum Concerned Women Association, Gulu Support Children Organisation, Lira Concerned Parents Association, World Vision Trauma and Counselling Centre in Gulu and the recently formed Pajule reception centre in Pader district.She also commended the media for making the world know about the plight of children still under rebel captivity. Atyam appealed to journalists to highlight issues related to children in the region.She said CPA did not only deal with children abducted from Lango district, as it had been construed, but also from other parts of the region.Ends