20 March 2013 - In assisting the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) become a professional force, UNMISS has conducted several trainings on child protection over the past week.

Training topics have included international laws protecting civilians during conflicts, child rights provisions in planning military orders, understanding rules of conflict within army controls and monitoring as well as reporting mechanisms.

A two-day session for 35 SPLA members ended today in Mayom County, Unity State.

During the training, SPLA Brig. Gen. Michael Makal Kuol noted that 40 children associated with the army had been released and reunited with their families last year in Mayom.

In March 2012, the SPLA and UN signed an "Action Plan regarding children associated with the SPLA in South Sudan". The SPLA has since formed Child Protection Units.

Successful implementation of the Action Plan by a 31 March 2013 deadline will remove South Sudan from a UN list of countries with children in their military ranks. Sanctions will follow should the timeline be exceeded.

A similar child protection training was held from 13 to 15 March in Malakal, Upper Nile State, for 45 SPLA soldiers.

"The training is part of the ongoing process of building the capacity of SPLA officers, which will eventually help them perform their responsibilities effectively," said UNMISS Malakal Child Protection Officer Moussa Camara.

Attended by about 60 SPLA soldiers, a training from 13 to 14 March in Yei, Central Equatoria State, stressed that children were the future.

"The place of children should be in the school, not in the street, or in the army so that they can be prepared...to build this nation," said UNMISS Central Equatoria State Coordinator Mamane Moussa.

SPLA Colonel John Bida requested a separate workshop for senior officers on better controlling their forces during war, for they were often accountable when the military committed crimes against civilians.

"During the revolution," Mr. Bida said, "we took everybody as an enemy because we did not know." "But now, we know what and where our limits of operation are."