"Terrorist attacks, suicide bombings, and ongoing violence are taking place in the Horn of Africa country of Somalia. What makes young Somalis engage in such cruelty, what drives them, and what principles do they stand for?
Some are drugged, others are brainwashed, and some get paid a few dollars for every month they fight.
Child soldiers are often used in frontline combat, serve as human mine detectors, participate in suicide missions, and act as spies, messengers, and sex slaves. The use of child soldiers is on the rise in Somalia, and schools are being used as recruitment centers.
Most Somalis are frightened to speak openly about the recruitment, but those who can afford to do so are sending their children out of the country to safety.
Hundreds of Somali youngsters are recruited and trained in camps in southern Somalia by the al-Shabaab, a Somali insurgent faction embracing a radical form of Islam similar to the harsh, conservative brand practiced by Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
Its fighters, numbering several thousand strong, are battling Somalia's weakened government and have been branded a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaeda by the United States and other Western countries.
The insurgent group allegedly uses young Somalis to terrorize the region and pays them $50 for every month they fight.
Fifteen-year-old Mohammed Ismail Hassan fled to neighboring Kenya after he was forcibly recruited by al-Shabaab in the central Somali district, Ceeldhere. He narrated to The New American about his ordeal at the hands of the Islamist group.
“It was one year ago when I was recruited to al-Shabaab. We were around 20 youngsters. Our Quranic teacher convinced us that when the Ethiopians are gone [from our country] … Somalia would be in the hands of an Islamic government, so we, youngsters were needed much in terms of defending that government,” he said.
“But after several months, I realized that I was fighting Somalis in every battle, and whenever I asked why are we fighting our brothers? Our Amir [leader] would reply, ‘They have deserted Islam [Murtad] and are fighting for the enemy of Allah.”
“Before I escaped this group, we fought with forces loyal to Ahmed Islam [a Hisbul Islam high-ranking official] in Dhobley [a southern Somali border town]. We defeated them, so I decided to flee with [their remaining members] to a border point, and there I joined hundreds of Somalis waiting to enter Kenya.”
Prior to his escape, Somali and foreign instructors showed the child-soldiers how to use weapons and set ambushes. The boy said before battle he was sometimes given drugs that made him feel like he could kill anyone without any fear........." http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/world-mainmenu-26/africa-mainmenu-27/4367-somali-youths-sold-to-be-soldiers
What is being done to address this issue? What is the International community doing? Are we just seated enjoying the show? There is a need for this problem to readdress and solved, a lasting peace has to be restored in Somalia, and if it can't then there is a strong need to give asylum to thousands of children trapped in this bloody land!!!
