From Child Soldiers Issue 3/MARCH 2002
A Newsletter produced by the Coalition
to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
"We were saying: Rule, glory, power - it's all for us," one imprisoned child soldier wrote. "But we were only dogs of the king, and we enjoyed it for a very short period." Another simply explained, "All my friends were joining, so I did, too." Many of those imprisoned had been given 'special' tattoos which coup plotters claimed would make them invincible. At least ten were reportedly executed by the late President Kabila on suspicion of plotting to overthrow him. Others are now awaiting trial.
The widespread use of children as soldiers has been a terrible feature of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's brutal war, which has involved the armed forces of at least eight countries and numerous armed groups. Both the Congolese Armed Forces and various opposition groups have forcibly recruited children; the Rwandan Patriotic Army and the Ugandan People's Defence Force have also facilitated the recruitment of children by opposition groups in the eastern DRC and even overseen the training of child recruits. The UN has estimated that 15-30% of all newly recruited combatants in the DRC were children under age eighteen, and a substantial number were under the age of twelve. Congolese child soldiers, known as kadogos or 'little ones', often serve initially as runners, bodyguards, porters or spies, but many go on to fight on the frontline, often with only minimal training.
Under intense international pressure - expressed in UN Security Council Resolution 1341 (February 2001) which called for all armed forces and groups in the conflict to end the recruitment and use of children as soldiers and to ensure their speedy demobilisation, return and rehabilitation -government and some opposition forces have recently begun to demobilize child soldiers. But some of these former child soldiers now face another threat. Not only were they used to fight adult wars, some now also face punishment before military tribunals and courts. The DRC, and particularly its Military Court, fail to protect children in accordance with international standards of juvenile justice.
The use of child soldiers in the DRC[1]: The Alliance of Democratic Forces for Liberation (ADFL) under the leadership of Laurent Kabila liberally recruited and used child soldiers during its war against former President Mobutu in 1996-97. It is estimated that more than 10,000 children fought with the ADFL. After 1997, many of these children continued to serve in the new government Congolese Armed Forces (FAC). An informal survey conducted by a FAC commander in November 1998 found that one out of fourteen FAC soldiers stationed in Kinshasa was under the age of 13. Child soldiers were also among Kabila's closest entourage, including his Presidential Guard.
In June 2000, under international pressure, Kabila issued a decree to stop the government's recruitment and use of child soldiers. But reports that the FAC was forcibly conscripting children continued to emerge, including claims in 2001 that children as young as ten years old had been enlisted. Altogether some 30,000 kadogos are believed to have fought with Kabila's armed forces.
In October 2000 Kabila became suspicious of a coup plot and had suspected leader Masasu along with several members of his Presidential Guard executed; according to some reports, at least 10 kadogos were among those executed. It emerged that Masasu had been meeting secretly with child soldiers in Kabila's Presidential Guard and giving them tattoos, which they were told would make them invincible. When Kabila was assassinated in January 2001 by one of his bodyguards, suspicion fell on several kadogos. The blame was finally cast on a youth who had been shot during the event, but many kadogos have since been arrested under suspicion of collaborating in the plot.
The Mai-Mai, a loose association of Congolese local defence forces whose name in Swahili means 'water', recruited children during the 1996-7 uprising and continued to use child soldiers into 2001 - some as young as eight years old. The children were indoctrinated to believe they were protected by magical powers that would turn bullets to liquid - hence the name Mai-Mai.
The Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) and the Congolese Rally for Democracy - Liberation Movement (RDC-ML), opposition groups supported by the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF), have recruited large numbers children as soldiers. During 2000, recruiters for the RCD-ML toured villages, returning with truckloads of 100 to 200 children and youth aged 13 to 18. UPDF instructors then provided three to six months of infantry and weapons training at Nyaluke camp, where conditions were so deplorable that many children died due to abuse and lack of health assistance. Altogether the UPDF trained and equipped thousands of young child recruits. Throughout 2000 Ugandan forces and RCD groups also abducted many girls and women for use as sexual slaves. In February 2001 the Ugandan Government conceded to pressure and granted UNICEF full access to a training camp to which 693 RCD-ML defectors had been transported the previous August, and agreed to release all those under the age of 18. 163 children, including three girls, were identified for rehabilitation and reunification with their families.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma) supported by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) also regularly recruit and conscript children both in Rwanda and the DRC. Rwandan forces not only use children as reinforcements, but also assist in recruitment drives and military training. In March 1999, RCD leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba made a commitment to stop using children under the age of 18 as soldiers in the Congolese National Army (ANC), the armed wing of the RCD, and to 'ease' young recruits out of the military. In May 2000 the RCD -Goma further announced it would create an inter-departmental commission for the demobilisation and social rehabilitation of child soldiers, and in December denied child recruitment was still occurring. But in 2000 and 2001 international human rights organisations documented the systematic abduction of children from roadsides, markets and homes in eastern DRC by both the RPA and the RCD-Goma. Children were often sent unarmed into battle as a diversionary force, resulting in huge casualties. The UN estimated that at Mushaki, a training camp in Masisi, more than 60% of 3000 newly trained soldiers were under the age of eighteen. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DRC reported that children between the ages of 9 and 13 had been recruited into the RPA and used as human shields, and that some 300 had been recruited in Congolese territory and sent to Kigali for training.
The exiled Rwandan Interahamwe Hutu militia, associated with armed groups in the DRC, has recruited hundreds of children through mercenaries in Kenya. Kenyan agents were reportedly paid $500 for every 150 boys - usually street children. The children were typically lured with offers of money, well-paying jobs and good living conditions in Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania - only to later find themselves fighting in the DRC. Recruitment levels were highest between May and August 1999 when Kenyan authorities cracked down on Nairobi street children, increasing their vulnerability to recruitment.
"I joined Kabila's army when I was 13 because my home had been pillaged and my parents were gone. When I found myself alone, I decided to become a soldier. Usually I was at the font-line. I've fought a lot... It is hard. I'm only a little soldier, I should return to school." Dieudonné, age 16.
Demobilisation and re-recruitment [2]: Since the DRC ratified the Optional Protocol on 11 November 2001 the demobilisation of child soldiers has gathered momentum. However the demobilisation process has been described by some as largely a "public relations" exercise, with minimal net results. Only three months after the government released a total of 208 child soldiers, BUNADER, the national bureau established to oversee demobilised children's rehabilitation and reintegration into society, returned 83 of the children who had turned 18 to the Congolese Armed Forces. One of the children reported that there are still more than 3,000 children needing demobilisation from the FAC; other sources report there may be over 6,000.
In September 2001 UNICEF and a senior RCD official discussed joint-measures for the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of child members of the ANC. In October the RCD-Goma committed itself to applying general principles regarding the protection of children affected by armed conflict. A plan of action was accepted under which UNICEF and its national and international partners will demobilise 2,600 child soldiers from the RCD within 2 to 3 months, with the RCD taking responsibility for the social and political aspects of their reintegration and resettlement. In December the RCD-Goma deposited an accord signed by its President Onusumba, officially authorising the children's demobilisation and operationalising their transit. The accord further committed the RCD-Goma to ending the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 in its armed forces.
Demobilised children from all forces continue to be closely monitored by armed forces and groups, vulnerable to being snatched from transit centres or forced to re-enlist when they return to their villages or reach the legal age for military recruitment. 60 percent of demobilised child soldiers in one centre attributed their military enrolment to the poverty of their families - with the economic situation in the DRC worsening, alternatives may remain scarce. [3]
"I have no interest in going to school. I've fought and killed many people. I'm a soldier, it's all the experience I need" Musimbi became a soldier with the RCD-Goma at the age of 13. 10
Prosecution and Punishment [4]: Not all former child soldiers are provided care in rehabilitation centres or returned to their families - some have faced detention, unfair trial and harsh punishments. Some children have languished in prison for months on end, with little access to health care or consideration of their vulnerability and special needs. They have faced closed and unfair trials before military courts, with no legal representation and have even been sentenced to death.
In April and August 2001 international organisations launched action appeals against the death penalties imposed on six children convicted as soldiers. At least five of these children had been arrested in 2000 and charged in connection with conspiracies to overthrow the former President Kabila. Following the appeals their sentences were commuted, first to life imprisonment and ultimately to five years imprisonment. The sixth child, Babuya Oleko, was still facing the death penalty when he died in prison on 26 September 2001 from tuberculosis resulting from the poor conditions under which he was detained.
Despite the controversy that arose around these cases, many other former child soldiers have also been put on trial. In September 2001 the UN special rapporteur on the DRC reported that trials had been initiated by the military court against 80 persons in August including another "17 young soldiers ('kadogos') as well as [the] child soldiers who were arrested in October 2000...". Reports emerged at the end of September that a total of 29 young men and children from Kabila's inner circle were facing possible death penalties for the failed conspiracy in October 2000, and forty more were being held on suspicion of participating in the plot that left Kabila mortally wounded in January. Many had reportedly been recruited as children. A few were as old as 20, most were 14 and 15, and some were as young as 11. Human rights groups say suspects have been tortured and at least one was forced to execute another.
Since October extremely little information has been available regarding the outcomes of these cases involving former child soldiers. The DRC's Military Court offers no right to appeal and has been known to try suspects without representation. Children are imprisoned together with adults and not treated according to international standards of juvenile justice. Former child soldiers from any of the armed forces or groups may be convicted of crimes committed under military command, while the commanders responsible for their recruitment have usually enjoyed impunity.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers urges the government of the DRC to take the following steps to protect child soldiers:
End all child recruitment and ensure the full demobilisation and rehabilitation of all child soldiers;
Revise military and criminal code provisions regarding children who take part in hostilities or are recruited into armed forces or groups, in accordance with international standards of juvenile justice;
Review the cases of all former child soldiers charged with crimes allegedly committed while serving in any armed force or group with a view to their appropriate release and rehabilitation;
Make public accurate information on numbers and ages of all former child soldiers currently detained, as well as the status of their cases;
Ensure that all children are fully protected from torture, ill-treatment and the death penalty;
Protect all demobilised children from re-recruitment.
The Coalition further urges the UN Security Council and all governments involved in the conflict to end all child recruitment and to ensure the plight of children in detention is addressed in peace agreements and demobilisation and rehabilitation programmes.
Please send letters or faxes to the following government representatives, urging them to take these actions:
President Joseph Kabila. Présidence de la République, Kinshasa-Ngaliema, République Démocratique du Congo. Fax (+ 243) 880 02 120
Minister of Justice, Ministère de la Justice, BP 3137, Kinshasa Gombé, République Démocratique du Congo. Fax : (+243) 880 55 21
Minister of Human Rights, Ministre des droits humains, Fax : (+243) 12 20 664
Please copy your letters to the nearest embassy of the Democratic Republic of Congo and to your own Foreign Minister.
[1] Unless otherwise stated, references for background information on child recruitment can be Found in: CSC, "DRC", Child Soldiers Global Report, CSC: London 2001.
[2] see News items, Child Soldiers Newsletter, issue 2 December 2001.
[3] See News items on page 3 of this Newsletter.
[4] see News items, Child Soldiers Newsletter, issue 2 December 2001.