Rights abuses still plague Congo's children -Annan

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Reuters) Despite an international crackdown, children are still being abducted, raped, and forcibly recruited as soldiers in Congo, with Congolese soldiers and police the main perpetrators, U N Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

A key problem is the rapid changes the security forces are undergoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Annan said in a report to the U N Security Council.

The government is seeking to integrate former rebel fighters into its army and police as it tries to put behind it a 1998-2003 civil war that pulled in armies from six neighboring countries and killed 4 million people, most of whom died from hunger and disease.

''These violations have occurred despite the efforts of the international community to support the training of those forces within the framework of security sector reform,'' he said.

Annan cited reports of 29 cases of child abductions and 60 children killed over the past 12-month period.

Cases of continued recruitment of child soldiers by the Congolese armed forces were of particular concern, Annan said.

The chief of staff of the armed forces was notified of more than 26 cases of recruitment of child soldiers and other violations in the past year, he said.

There has been some progress this year in convincing the government and its judicial authorities to crack down on abuses.

But pursuing complaints in the courts is costly and the Congolese people generally distrust the judicial system, enabling the security services to largely ignore serious rights violations, he said.

Such violations against children and other civilians ''are generally not investigated or punished by the national authorities,'' whether committed by government forces or rebel soldiers who remain active in the vast central African country, his report said.

REUTERS PDS BST0112