Support Children Affected By LRA Says UNICEF Ambassadors UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors actress Mia Farrow and Martin Bell(Journalist)addressed the media in Juba on Saturday after visiting women and children affected by the insecurity caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Western Equatoria State and revealed the situation to be intolerable. 15 March 2011 Support Children Affected By LRA Says UNICEF Ambassadors (Left)Mia Farrow and Martin Bell addressing the media in a past event [©www.wn.com ]
By Juma John Stephen JUBA, 13th March, 2011 [Gurtong] - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors actress Mia Farrow and Martin Bell [Former Journalist] addressed the media in Juba on Saturday after visiting women and children affected by the insecurity caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Western Equatoria State and revealed the situation to be intolerable. “We went to Western Equatoria State and honestly nothing prepared me for the fear and devastation the people are suffering because of the LRA, I knew there has been incaution since Sept 2010 when there was a large displacement but I did not know that the attacks are ongoing,” said Mia According to Farrow some of the testimonies from a young girl around 12 years old who was a captive for two years then rescued and reunited with her family when the Uganda People's Defense Forces -UPDF opened fire. “I do not know my age, I was taken in the morning along with lots of people in my village. On the way they (LRA) separated us from the men and killed them. They said if we tried to escape they will kill us. They told us to keep walking and soon we will reach our destination. We did not spend more than two days in one place. We walked and we only eat white leaves. We just kept walking. I was severely beaten, my back side is very scar and swollen. The worse was the endless walking, I didn’t know where I was going and there was no end to it. The only thing I though at that time was I want to be dead. Eventually when the Uganda soldiers attacked I was saved. When I thought of myself then I thought I must be dead because of what was happening to me.” A woman only known as Zerufa told the UNCIEF Ambassadors that the problem of food shortage is huge because when they want to return to their farms the chances of being killed are high. “A man went to his farm he was shot and his fingers were cut. The LRA are here today and tomorrow they are somewhere else especially when it is dark.” Said Zerufa One of the Nuns looking after the rescued victims in the Rembo Center Western Equatoria State told the Ambassadors that those who are able to escape end up traumatized. They were taught how to kill without mercy. One boy was asked to kill his father he did so with a log, now the boy is often crying for what he has done (the boy was present but he did not speak). After the testimonies Mia Farrow said, “So I think the best I can do is to convey the messages of sister Jeavan and many Internally Displaced Persons- IDPS that we spoke to whose messages was identical that they are terrified and that other than security there are food problems because they have no access to their lands” Meanwhile, Martine Bell said that the atrocities made by the LRA are most dreadful. “I can tell you from my personal experience never in any-one of the 18 war zones that I have visited and reported on have I got to know atrocities so truly dreadful as those been perpetrated by the LRA. There is a calculated and deliberate brutality on young people so that they become perpetrator as well as victims” Bell said. He continued “I can honestly say, of all the countries I have worked I have not met one where the work of UNICEF has been more necessary. Like Mia I will go back to my base and do my best principally not just raising the awareness but the funds for the projects with which you need.” Nils Arne Kastberg a UNCIEF representative said, “I would like the same or even stronger measures to protect the mothers that are giving birth, to the new South Sudanese. These are some of the top priorities that we would like very much to be from the moment of the declaration of independence as the pillars of the new South Sudan.” Statistic from UNICEF indicates that there is an acute malnutrition rates as high as 26.5%. Child mortality out of every 1000 births 102 babies will not survive. One out of every 7 children will die before their 5th birth day. Immunization is only 10%, HIV/AIDS is only 8% who have knowledge on protection, 50% of the population does not have access to clean drinking water. 92% of the women of South Sudan cannot read and write. 215, 000 people were displaced in the region. Posted in: Home -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
