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CHICAGO (Islam Online) - Former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Stephen Lewis lashed out against the Sudanese government during a U.N. conference for allegedly aiding an opposition army movement in Uganda that kidnaps and kills thousands of Ugandan children. Lewis urged conference members to launch a global campaign to heap shame on Sudan for supporting the Lord's Resistance Army, an opposition group based in southern Sudan that kidnaps, rapes and murders children in neighboring Uganda. "In my entire adult life, I have never encountered such a venal mask of innocence in the face of such a wanton destruction of children," he said. The Sudanese official who was attending the session denied the accusations. Lewis said that he conducted several rounds of talks with Sudanese officials but they refused to acknowledge their government's involvement despite overwhelming evidence. Lewis stepped down last year after four years as deputy executive director of the U.N. Children's Fund. He also criticized Canadian government officials and the Talisman Energy Inc. of Calgary for dealing with Sudan, saying that it uses its revenues from the oil company digging in Sudan to support the opposition. He presented an updated report of the Machel review, a groundbreaking document on war-affected children prepared for the secretary-general of the United Nations in 1996. Teenagers from war-ravaged areas were invited to attend the conference and are expected to represent their experiences about war crimes and atrocities committed against children. Private aid groups at the conference called on Wednesday for a beefed-up United Nations children's rights committee capable of investigating abuses. They called for a ban on military aid to armies using child soldiers and for curbs on the trade in light weapons, those used by children. The weeklong meeting that started Monday is the first U.N. Conference on War Affected Children. Hosted by the Canadian city of Winnipeg, it seeks to focus attention on the plight of children caught up in armed conflict, including those left homeless, orphaned, deprived of schooling and those used as cannon fodder. Besides Sudan, other ministers from several war-torn countries, including Liberia, Eritrea, Angola, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka are expected to attend. Richer countries are sending lower-level delegations, raising questions about the meeting's eventual impact The U.N. Children's Fund says that in the last decade more than two million children died as a result of war, and some 15 million have been displaced. Presently, about 300,000 children are participating in wars as soldiers in more than 30 conflicts. |
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