It is estimated
that around 21,000 Liberian child soldiers, including 2000
girls, were in action during
the fourteen year long civil war, some as young as six, however
69% were 15 to 17 years old serving an average of four years,
whilst a further 27% were between 12 and 14 years old. Few
joined up willingly however the majority were abducted and
forced to fight on all sides on pain of death. Some of these
children were living in refugee camps in Guinea and the Ivory
Coast. One of these younger recruits, a 12 yr old describes his
experiences: "I was playing football outside with some other young boys.
Government soldiers came and said rebels had reached Lofa
bridge. Commander Fasou [sic] was in charge of the group and
they picked up 24 young boys.
We were tied and put in a truck
and carried to Lofa highway. I was taught how to shoot an AK 47.
I fired a gun but I am not sure if I hit anyone. Some of my
friends went to fight; some were wounded and some died. I was a
‘Small Boys Unit’ deputy commander. I wasn’t beaten or
ill-treated but soldiers harassed civilians, beat them and
looted their things. The commander told the small boys not to do
this but those behind the commander were doing it. During World
War I, we came to Monrovia. While I was fighting, I saw my aunt, who was
displaced, running. I asked where my mother was and she said
that she had gone to Buchanan. I asked my commander for
permission to take my aunt to the displaced camp. Then, I
returned and fought in World War II. During World War III we ran
out of ammunition.
"People were saying Charles Taylor should leave. We were not
receiving any new supplies. I asked my commander if I could go
to find my aunt and look for my mother. Then ECOMIL came and Taylor left. In September my commander let
me go and I came with my aunt to 'Titanic'. We are suffering
here with no toilet, no safe drinking water or a hand pump. I
want to go back to school." Again, the words of a 12-yr-old
boy. Children were
recruited during the Liberian civil war because they were
perceived as free and expendable labour, often being sent on
one-way missions but too young, frightened and naive to
understand the dangers. As one militia commander noted, "They can
fight more than we the big people. It's hard for them to just
retreat." This inexperience also put them at risk of being
killed by their own weapons or those of the opposing forces. One 14 year old
boy stated "I used an AK 47; the adults used RPGs and other
bigger weapons. I fired the gun but am not sure if I killed
people. On the road enemy soldiers came and I tried to run away
but a rocket hit my leg. Four people were wounded and some
others died in the attack. Government soldiers came and took me
to Phebe hospital. After a week and two days an ambulance from
JFK hospital came to pick me up. At JFK they amputated my leg."
At the end of the
war, many Liberian child soldiers were allowed to leave their
fighting units, whilst others fled. Some found their families,
others moved onto the streets whilst some ended up in
displacement camps. Whilst they could leave the fighting and
their weapons behind, the brutalisation would never go away for
some. Hardly surprising when 87% had seen a family member
killed, 60% had seen other children beaten to death whilst 84%
reported that they had experienced being "surrounded by, lying
underneath or stepping on" dead bodies. Already a poor
nation before the war, Liberia was simply ill-equipped for
reconstruction after the war, and certainly did not have the
resources, mainly human resources, to address the needs of
emotionally and often physically scarred children with many of
them seen as pariahs in their own communities.
As one girl
stated "I think about my father and my brother every day and my
sister who I haven't seen since she was taken by rebels ... When
I close my eyes, all I can see is the war. I often think about
taking my own life. It would have been better if I'd died in the
war, but I am still alive and I hope one day something will be
different and I will be a good person." A UN report on
the civil war in Liberia issued as the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement was signed laid bare the true extent of the use of
Liberian child soldiers in the bloody conflict when it stated
"one out of every 10 Liberian children may have been recruited
into the war effort. Liberian children have suffered all kinds
of atrocities, sexual violence, disruption of schooling and
forced displacement".
Liberian Child Soldiers: Sponsor Children in Liberia
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