(UNICEF) – One hundred and three children age 8 to 17 were released over the past week from armed groups in Bangui following negotiations with armed group leaders. The 103 children, 13 of whom are girls, were associated with the anti-Balaka armed groups operating mainly in Bangui and in the western part of CAR, who took up arms in retaliation for attacks from ex-Seleka forces in the last year and a half of violence. “As the conflict continues, the number of children being used in armed groups has increased dramatically,” said Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative in Central African Republic. “Recruitment of children into conflict is a grave violation of child rights, and these children have witnessed a level of violence that no child should ever have to experience.”
