The Guardian reports on the current state of life in Southern Sudan. While the SPLA are said to be disarming, peace is threatened from all sides by poverty, disease, interference from neighbouring territories, and the arrival of Uganda’s LRA. People are displaced and children are stolen and traded as commodities:

“We were coming home from school when some men came out of the bushes in torn clothes. They were calling and offering us soda. We were very scared so we ran,” said Susan Achan, 12.
Last month two of her friends were not so lucky. “We were picking mangoes,” said Sebit Quintino, 13. “We saw the men, they were Murle tribe, and we shouted to each other and ran, but three were playing in the water and didn’t hear. One of the boys turned up days later after managing to escape; the other two have never been seen again.”
The boys are traded for cattle and made to work, and the girls are also sold off for a dowry of cows.

(Source: The Guardian Online. Image: Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters)

Tagged as: Africa, Civil War, Sudan