VZCZCXRO7563
OO RUEHBC RUEHBZ RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHKUK RUEHMA
RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNJ #0224 1631118
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 121118Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6990
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000224 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/C, S/USSES AND G/TIP 
NSC FOR GAVIN 
LONDON FOR POL -- LORD 
PARIS FOR POL -- KANEDA 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR AU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM MOPS SU CD
SUBJECT: CHADIAN MILITARY RELEASES REBEL CHILD SOLDIERS TO 
UNICEF 
 
This cable is sensitive but unclassified.  Not for Internet 
dissemination. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Defense Attache and local staff attended a June 12 
ceremony during which the Chadian military (ANT) handed 84 
underage combatants, captured from Chadian rebel units in the 
course of early May ANT fighting with rebels in Eastern Chad, 
to UNICEF.  That organization will work in coordination with 
Care International to return the children to their families 
and ensure social reintegration.  MFA Moussa Faki Mahamat and 
MOD Kamougue Wadal Abdelkader co-presided over the ceremony, 
which was also attended by Chad's Ministers of Justice and 
Social Affairs, other members of the diplomatic corps, NGO 
reps, and former AU President (and President of Mali) Alpha 
Oumar Konare. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Both Faki and Kamougue emphasized that the GoC was 
committed to honoring its engagement to international 
conventions related to underage combatants, and that Chad 
would cooperate and assist NGOs and others from the 
international community in this regard.  Kamougue claimed 
retroactive credit for the GoC's having released 42 child 
soldiers from the Front Unite pour le Changement (FUC) taken 
prisoner in 1996 to UNICEF in that year, bringing the total 
number of underage combatants handed from the GOC to UNICEF 
to 557.  (This includes today's release of 84.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  UNICEF representatives who accepted the custody of 
the 84 children praised the GOC for its cooperation and made 
clear that UNICEF and Care International would work to assist 
with schooling and reestablishing links with family members. 
Former AU President Konare urged all Chadian groups not to 
allow children to engage in armed conflict. 
BREMNER