The head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, has singled out Sri Lanka and Congo in his Christmas day message saying that one of the most appalling phenomena, still affecting hundreds of thousands of children, is the exploiting of children in the "meaningless and savage" civil wars in places like Congo and Sri Lanka.

A statement posted on the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury said that the suffering of the children is an insult to the purpose of God and a contemptuous refusal of the gift of God by those who keep them in their different kinds of slavery.

"...perhaps one of the most appalling phenomena, still affecting hundreds of thousands of children, is the exploiting of children in the meaningless and savage civil wars in places like Congo and Sri Lanka - children who are abducted, brutalised, turned into killers, used as sex slaves.  To hear of these experiences is almost unbearable, yet the scandal continues," the website quoted the Archbishop of Canterbury as saying is his message.

(DM Online)