Sudanese 'child soldiers' airlifted to safety

The United Nations has evacuated more than two and a half thousand former child soldiers from combat zones in southern Sudan in an emergency airlift.

The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, said it had decided to take radical action because of growing insecurity.

The boys were released by the main southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, following a pledge given to UNICEF last year.

Many joined the rebels voluntarily; some were as young as eight.

They're being kept at UN transit camps in southern Sudan, where they will get counselling and education.

Some are orphans but it's hoped that others can be reunited with their families. The UN says there are at least another nine-thousand child soldiers in the region in various armed groups.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service