Insecurity and widespread poverty caused by the 18-year warfare pitting government forces against insurgents in northern Uganda has made desperate children vulnerable to recruitment as rebel fighters, the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF) said. "The poverty and insecurity in northern Uganda could make children vulnerable to recruitment into the armed forces," UNICEF's protection officer in Gulu, Rebecca Symington, told IRIN by telephone from the northern town. Many of the children, she added, saw fighting as a form of employment and saw the carrying of arms as the only way to protect themselves and others.