Somalia Child Soldiers
Somalia has been referred to as a 'pirate state' not just because of the piracy that takes place off its shores, but because there has been no effective government since clans from across Somalia brought down the governing regime of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, armed and supported by Ethiopia.
The typical profile of Somali child soldiers is that of children aged between just eight to sixteen years of age who have been orphaned through warfare in Somalia and who have no other means to support themselves and certainly no jobs, schools nor effective government to protect or provide for them.
It is already known that many of these child soldiers have been recruited by rebel groups such as al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, however recent reports indicate that Somalia's own Transitional government has also taken to recruiting child soldiers particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu to help maintain law and order; reports fiercely denied by the government.
Given the situation in Somalia, where even aid agencies fear to work because of the ever present dangers to the lives of their staff, figures for the number of child soldiers operating in Somalia are not clear, however a report in 2004 by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers suggested that in the previous five years some 200,000 children had been used as child soldiers by various armed factions out of a total child population of around 4,562,000.
This video explores the issue of child soldiers in Somalia with explanations from children as to why they were recruited and what 'duties' they perform.
TAGS: Somalia Child Soldiers, Somalia Child Soldiers Video, Somalia Child Soldiers Documentary, Somalia Government Child Soldiers, Somalia Child Soldiers Claims, Somalia Child Soldiers in Mogadishu