If you could save a child from a life of war and violence would you? What about 3,000? U.N. secures release of South Sudan child soldiers

The United Nations has taken another step in its role as a demobilizer and protector of conscripted child soldiers, securing a promise from South Sudan to release about 3,000 former child soldiers, an act which the U.N. labeled "one of the largest ever demobilizations of children."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The various children range in age from 11 to 17, and were all fighters for the Cobra Faction of the South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA), led by rebel leader David Yau Yau.

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Some of these children have been fighting for more than three years.

Almost 300 were released on January 28 at a village in Jonglei State. UNICEF, the U.N.'s major child agency said that the 280 children were released, and the rest will be released in successive groups over the next month.

UNICEF has reported that about 12,000 children have been recruited by South Sudanese militant groups just in the last year.

"These children have been forced to do and see things no child should ever experience," said UNICEF's South Sudan representative, Jonathan Veitch. "The release of thousands of children requires a massive response to provide the support and protection these children need to begin rebuilding their lives."

South Sudan is the world's youngest nation, having just secured its independence from Sudan in 2011. The nation has been in a major civil war since December of 2013, when fighting broke out in Juba, the capital, between forces of the current president, Salva Kiir, and rebel forces loyal to his former deputy, Riek Machar.

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The civil war has killed at least 10,000 people, and more than a million have been forced to leave their homes.

Yau Yau is a former theology student, and has been a key player in several rebellions against Juba. Most of his support comes from his Murle ethnic minority group, and though he signed a peace deal in January of last year, fighting between the Murle people and neighboring Lou Nuer tribes continues.

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