AFRICA/SOMALIA - Rising recruitment of child soldiers

Mogadiscio (Agenzia Fides) – There is some uncertainty about the number of children involved in armed conflicts throughout Somalia. It is estimated that there are two or three thousand, spread among several opposition groups. Since January in Somalia there has been a significant increase in fighting and, consequently, the recruitment of child soldiers is also on the rise. UNICEF stated on 17 March that, in a recent offensive against rebel groups in the town of Bulo Hawo on the border with Kenya, “...children were involved as fighters and a significant number of them were killed. According to reports, intense fighting in the area between Dhusamareb and Ceelbur in Galgadud
also resulted in many infant casualties.”
In a statement from the UN it says that the army of the “TFG [Transitional Federal Government] forces, their allies, the Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, and Al-Shabab are all engaged in the recruitment. Al-Shabab is the biggest culprit,” said an official working with an NGO that monitors the state of children in the Country. The official, who asked not to be named, did not suggest the African Union's TFG-supporting military mission in Somalia, AMISOM, was also using children.
The TFG denied it recruited children into its forces. "This government, as a policy, does not recruit nor does it encourage the recruitment of children into the military," government spokesman, Abdi Haji Gobdon, when speaking to the UN. He said that whenever an underage child was found among government forces they were immediately released and sent back to their families.
In any case children who are not recruited face other problems such as government security forces in the capital, Mogadishu who were reportedly picking up children on suspicion that they “may be working for Al-Shabab. “There are a large number of children in government jails, simply because
someone suspected that the child could be a militant," the official said.
In camps where tens of thousands of displaced are sheltering, or in hospitals in Mogadishu, the “vast majority are children,” the official said. “Unfortunately, there is no safe place for them anywhere in this country.”
In an April 2010 report, the UN said research in June 2009 confirmed that the recruitment of children had become more systematic and widespread. The report says all sides, including the TFG, were recruiting children.
A local journalist, who requested anonymity, told the UN that many displaced families were sending their children to refugee camps in Kenya or to safe parts of Somalia for fear they would be forcibly recruited. According to UN estimates, at least 2.4 million Somalis need help across Somalia. These include IDPs in areas controlled by Al-Shabab: 410,000 in the Afgoye Corridor, 15,200 in the Balad corridor [30km north of Mogadishu] and 55,000 in Dayniile, northwest of Mogadishu. Some 600,000 Somalis are refugees in neighbouring countries. (AP) (22/3/2011 Agenzia Fides)