Somalia: Recruitment of Child Soldiers on the Rise
| May 2, 2010 | Posted by Lotte under Uncategorized |
The recruitment of child soldiers in Somalia is on the rise, both by the government and particularly by the country’s most powerful Islamist militia, al-Shabab, whose name means “the youth.” Al-Shabab’s recruitment of children partly stems from a lack of willing adults, who have been alienated by Islamist attacks on traditional Sufi saints and bans on everything from chewing qat, a mildly narcotic leaf, to school bells and music. Besides that, children are easily recruited from the Somali streets and schools. They make up the bulk of the Somali population; more than half the country’s estimated 7.5 million residents are under 18.
Last week, both the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch reported that adults no longer want to join al-Shabab, and that they are replaced by child soldiers who can easily operate modern infantry. In addition, UNICEF monitors in Somalia have said children as young as 9 are regularly targeted and most children are taken through deception or force.
According to a spokesperson for UNICEF in Somalia: “Children are being systematically recruited and used in ever larger numbers for military and related purposes by all of the major combatant groups. The number of bases and camps used to train these children is commensurately widespread and appears to be growing”.
Members of the Al-Shabab movement have admitted that they are using child soldiers, yet insist that all these children are volunteers. One of them said: “We have many young fighters, I do not want to say a figure. Some of them are as young as 13 but we never force them to join us, they are driven by their own will for the ongoing jihad.”
Only few of these children have managed to escape the movement. One boy managed to sneak past the guards of the camp where he was staying last month. Still, he cannot go home. The insurgents control his neighbourhood and would probably kill his family if he would return. Most of his classmates had already been killed after they were seized from school two years ago. He was lucky to survive and is now being cared for by African Union peacekeepers. His family does not know where he is, and whether he is still alive.
Al-Shabab is not the only armed group in Somalia using child soldiers. The government also has under-18s among its ranks, and so do the government-allied militia Ahlu Sunnah. Again, these groups all insist they do not recruit children intentionally and that these children have chosen the profession themselves, mostly to change their lives and in order to survive.
A 14-year-old boy who was recruited by the government-allied militia, said he chose to join after his religious teacher urged him. His teacher asked the boy and his friends to take up arms against al-Shabab. The 14-year-old considered it as an Islamic duty to fight al-Shabab fighters with their “distorted ideologies”. And so he joined the militia together with a couple of hundred other children, some as young as 10. He said he would like to finish his studies, but only after they will finish off al-Shabab..
Recent Comments