VOA标准英语2008年-Child Soldiers Demobilized in Burundi

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
03 May 2008

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says more than 200 child soldiers held by rebels have been demobilized following seven months of negotiations¹.  UNICEF says the children, including one girl, were being held by a dissident group that broke with the rebel National Liberation Front.  The FNL is still fighting a civil war with the Burundian government.  Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

The United Nations Children's Fund says 232 children between the ages of 15 and 20 had been held at the Randa and Burumata camps north of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. 

In a telephone interview from Bujumbura, UNICEF representative, Francoise Grullos, told VOA many of the children were as young as 10 when they were recruited by the FNL. 

She says the camps in which the former child soldiers were staying were in very poor condition and UNICEF considered it a matter of urgency to get the children released. 

"We had some concerns that these children in these two camps were in areas where the army and the FNL were still fighting and we feared about the security of these child soldiers in the camps," she said.  "So, it was an additional element.  And, I have to say that the government and the Commission, in particular, have been very instrumental in making sure that the dissidents agreed to release the children." 

The government established a Commission in 2004 to oversee² the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers into civil society.  Since then, Grullos says, more than 3,000 former child soldiers have been returned to their communities with a 94 percent success rate of reintegrating into society.

She says negotiating the release of these children has been a very long, difficult, but, ultimately successful process.

"You can imagine the happiness in the office here.  We were very, very happy," she added.  "It is like bringing children back to their childhood.  It is releasing them from a camp where conditions are very bad and getting them back to a normal life."

But, Grullos freely admits it is very difficult to get the children back to a normal life.  She says the teenagers are suffering from a variety of illnesses, including malaria³ and skin diseases.  She says many are severely⁴ traumatized by their brutalizing experiences and will require psychosocial counseling.

Grullos says the children have been taken to the town of Gitega, east of Bujumbura, where the process to reunite them with their families would begin.  She says it takes about 18 months to reintegrate them into their communities.   Although the process is long, she says it has been generally successful. 

UNICEF says there are still an estimated 1,000 child soldiers in Burundi and more continue to be recruited by rival armed factions⁵.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

3 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别