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Grades 4-6

Child Warriors

When Alusine Bah was just 13 years old, rebel soldiers attacked his small village in Sierra Leone, Africa. They killed his parents and destroyed the village. Alusine (Ah-lou-sane) was alone, hungry and angry. "I wanted to avenge the death of my friends and parents," he says. So he joined the army. But the army did not offer comfort or salvation. Instead Alusine was beaten, drugged and forced to perform the most dangerous jobs.

For years, Alusine's country in West Africa has been the scene of terrible fighting. Sadly, civil wars exist in many countries throughout the world, from Liberia in Africa to Burma in Southeast Asia.

Every day in battle zones, children are being used as soldiers. They are fighting and killing--and dying. Kids as young as eight are carrying rifles. They are fighting for causes they barely understand. Last week a United Nations report called for a worldwide campaign to end this abuse of children.

Graça Machel (Gra-sah Ma-shel), the widow of Mozambique's first President, Samora Machel, presented the report to the U.N. She served as Mozambique's Education Minister, and has spent years working on behalf of children. Mozambique, which is in East Africa, has been a battleground since the early 1980s.

"We have to believe that we can protect our children if we do something individually and collectively." --Graça Machel of Mozambique

The U. N. report calls for the world's nations to stop using children under the age of 18 as soldiers. (Current international laws forbid the use of children under the age of 15. Many nations ignore the laws.) The report says governments and rebel armies have recruited tens of thousands of child warriors. By the late 1980s adults had put guns in the hands of as many as 200,000 children in 25 countries. Most of the young soldiers are in Africa, but many are in Asia and Latin America.

How Kids Become Soldiers
Why do children join the armies or rebel groups? Sometimes children join because they are looking for the security of a family. Perhaps their own parents have been killed or forced to flee their homes. In Rwanda, by the end of 1994, more than 100,000 children had been separated from their families. This is the highest number of unaccompanied children in any land since UNICEF (the U.N. agency that helps children) began keeping track in 1946.

"I had lost my parents. I needed food," says Ishmael Beah, a 15-year-old ex-soldier from Sierra Leone. Machel points out that "no child who is protected and a part of a family would volunteer to be in the army. They join because they are left without any choice."

In some cases children are kidnapped. Many military leaders believe kids make good soldiers. In the Sudan in Africa, children as young as 12 have been rounded up from buses and cars. In Guatemala armed forces grabbed kids from streets, homes, parties, even churches.

Cheap, modern weapons have made it all too easy for children to be warriors. The weapons are lightweight and easy to operate. An AK-47 rifle weighs less than six pounds. In Uganda it can be bought for the price of a chicken.

One commander told Machel that child soldiers are "more obedient and do not question orders." They want to please their commanders. "Little boys are fierce fighters," says Ishmael. "We don't have family to think about. You become hardhearted."

Sometimes children are forced to commit horrifying acts in order to make them better soldiers. "Play? There is no time to play. I am fighting a war," says 13-year-old Jabal, a soldier in Mozambique.

What Can Be Done To Help?
The U.N. report offers guidelines to help children who were soldiers fit back into society. Former fighters need homes, schooling, counseling. This is a problem created by adults, states the U. N. report. And it is a problem that must be fixed by adults.

Machel hopes that by the year 2000 the world's governments will have heard her message. She believes public opinion can make a difference. "Don't turn your eyes away," Machel urges. "Feel the fear, the pain, the anger, the longing of these children to be just children."

Last week Alusine and Ishmael joined 58 kids from all over the world at a meeting at the U.N. in New York City. The kids asked the world's leaders to listen to children and respect their rights. Alusine read a poem he had written. "Please, please," part of his poem reads, "I am a child. Let me be a child."

Next: Aid to Zaire: Mission Impossible?