Fighting chance for former child soldiers

30 May 2003

Sierra Leone is now experiencing an uneasy peace and a measure of stability, following a decade of bloody civil war, which came to an end in early 2002. The UN, together with British forces, helped to end a conflict which killed between 75,000 and 200,000 people, and displaced more than a third of the country's population of six million. Tens of thousands of civilians were maimed or psychologically scarred.

Brutality of war

The violence between government forces and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) movement was characterised by the brutality of the rebel soldiers, whose notorious trademark was to use machetes to hack off the arms and legs of those who were seen to side with the government. Babies and small children were among the victims.

Some of the indiscriminate maimings were carried out with the macabre question ‘Do you want long or short sleeves?' before an arm was severed.

Child soldiers forced to fight

Among the perpetrators of these grim atrocities were around 60,000 child soldiers - some of them under 10 years of age. A number fought with the pro-government militia, the Kamajors, but most were forced to assist rebel forces. Often they were heavily drugged to encourage bravery in battle and a willingness to commit atrocities.

RUF commanders would capture children and young people, sometimes rubbing cocaine into their wounds to make them mad enough to fight or chop people's limbs off. Sometimes, the child soldiers' victims were their neighbours or family members.

During the brutal war, many of the children and young people - especially girls - were raped, abducted and forced to become the sexual partners of their captors. Those who managed to avoid abduction had little choice but to flee their homes, and sometimes their country as well.

‘Didn't know what I was doing'

One 16-year-old girl says: "I ran into the bush with my parents. We were captured by the rebels, who cut my mother and father. My father died immediately. Then they told me I had to decide whether I or my mother was going to die. My mother pleaded with them to kill her. They cut off her hand before killing her. They injected me with drugs and I became wild. I didn't know what I was doing."

Saidu, now 16, was recruited into the RUF when he was five. "It was fun, like a big boys' game," he says. "They made us so crazy we enjoyed the smoking, the drinking, the shooting, all that. But when it was my turn to swing the machete and cut a man's arm off, I couldn't look. I can't forget his scream."

Children vulnerable to exploitation

Sean Brown, Programme Co-ordinator for Africa for Y Care International, recently went to Sierra Leone to visit the work of a pioneering YMCA project working with former child soldiers.

He spoke with Christiana Ay-Speck, relief and rehabilitation secretary at the YMCA of Sierra Leone. "These children are now left with very complex, urgent needs - they are vulnerable to exploitation," says Christiana.

"Traditional family life is an alien concept for most of them. These children and young people are not going to be able to get back into training or education unless they are reintegrated into their home communities.

"Our young people only know how to fight. If we do not help them now, there is every danger that they will join rebel cells in neighbouring Liberia and start fighting again."

YMCA in strong position to help

As one of only a handful of youth-focused organisations operating across Liberia at grassroots level, the YMCA is in a strong position to help. As well as the national office based in the capital Freetown, there are four regional offices, and 22 local branches based in rural towns and villages across the country.

During the war years, the YMCA focused on immediate relief and aid. Christiana says: "There were so many difficulties - our head office was looted in early 1999, and we operate today with few resources. Now our aims are reconciliation and rehabilitation - we are working with local communities in rural areas to reintegrate former child soldiers." With support from Y Care International, the YMCA is attempting to reunite children and young people with 200 families in Kailahun in eastern Sierra Leone.

Not an easy task

Sean Brown says it's no easy task: "A large number of families and communities are unwilling to accept their children back, because of the continuing fear and mistrust of anyone associated with the rebel movement. And many of the former combatants find it hard to feel any sense of remorse or responsibility for their actions during the war."

The YMCA trains peace motivators who are themselves former child soldiers and ex-refugees who have returned home to Sierra Leone. The peace motivators use radio broadcasts to explain what they are trying to achieve, and help local people to understand the importance of reintegration. The YMCA also helps bring villagers together for public meetings where they voice their concerns.

Come to terms with horrors

For the former child soldiers themselves, counselling is offered as an important part of coming to terms with the horrors they have lived through.

"As most are now too old to return to school, these young people also need skills to build their futures", says Sean Brown. To help address the massive skills deficit facing Sierra Leone, the YMCA offers training in carpentry and brick-making.

"I'm learning a skill, a valuable skill. It will help me to live and forget," says one teenager, who at the age of 10 was a sergeant commanding 10 other boy soldiers.

Prospect of positive future

Life in Sierra Leone can still seem almost unbearably difficult. Many people are living in poverty so dire that they are barely able to feed themselves, and the country's health and education systems are woefully inadequate.

But the YMCA can offer some of Sierra Leone's young people enough hope to bring the prospect of a positive future closer.