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Africa Horn | |||
UN alarm that most of Al Shabab's force in Somalia are kids | |||
2017-01-21 | |||
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is alarmed at reports that children may constitute a large part of the force recruited and used by al-Shabab Islamic extremists in Somalia.
Somalia has been trying to rebuild after recently establishing its first functioning central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a longtime dictator and plunged the impoverished nation into chaos. But the country is riven by clan rivalries
In a report to the Security Council circulated this week, the U.N. chief said al-Shabab used children in combat, with 9-year-olds reportedly taught to use weapons and sent to front lines. Children were also used to transport explosives, work as spies, carry ammunition or perform domestic chores, he said. While al-Shabab was the main perpetrator, the report said the Somali army and other groups also recruited and used children.
Al-Shabab accounted for 70 percent — or 4,213 — of verified cases, followed by the Somali National Army with 920 children recruited, it said. Guterres said he is "deeply troubled by the scale and nature of grave violations against children in Somalia and their increase since 2015." He urged all parties to stop recruiting children and committing violations against them and to abide by international humanitarian and human rights law. The report said al-Shabab targeted poor children who lacked opportunities, recruiting primarily in rural areas of southern and central Somalia, frequently at schools, madrasas, mosques and religious events. "Teachers were often coerced into enlisting pupils," it said. Guterres cited reports of recruitment of children from madrasas in refugee camps in Kenya, of young boys disappearing en masse from al-Shabab-run madrasas and of entire villages forced to give up their children to the extremist group. "Children recruited and used by al-Shabab were victims of or were exposed to other grave violations including killing and maiming during military operations and air strikes targeting al-Shabab, and subjected to arrest and detention by Somalia security forces during military or search operations," the report said. As for the Somali National Army, the report said, despite signing an action plan in 2012 to end child recruitment, it continues to recruit and use youngsters including as spies, checkpoint guards and bodyguards. It said al-Shabab has executed children suspected of spying for the army or the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. | |||
Posted by:Steve White |
#2 The CIA World Factbook has Somalia down to below 6 children per woman despite only a 14% use of contraception, but the point still holds. Under current conditions the men mostly can't afford multiple wives, as is the case even in Saudi Arabia. When Mr. Wife was starting up the factory in Egypt, the men pointed out proudly the one man among them who had a second wife. He was sleeping in a corner, worn out from his husbandly exertions, and they all covered for him. Mr. Wife had no stories about multiple wives among the people he dealt with in Saudi Arabia. |
Posted by: trailing wife 2017-01-21 15:57 |
#1 when your religion tells you to have multiple wives, breed to maximum carrying capacity and never use contraception you end up with 9 kids per woman, 4 wives that's around 36 kids per male so with all those spare kids, too many mouths to feed, they don't really care if they lose some to war life is cheap limit them to 2 kids per family and they won't be so blase about letting the child soldiers fight |
Posted by: anon1 2017-01-21 03:41 |