Darfur Child Soldiers - Sudan

February 2009

Kidnapped, trained to kill and forced to fight for rebel leaders. Darfurs estimated 10,000 child soldiers must now face either prison or a full pardon, returning them to the parents they left behind.

Five of them, they showed me their hands. They had been tied for about a week in the cars. This means they didn't want to go, tells Hasabo Abdelrahman, Humanitarian Commisioner of Sudan. This is just one of the ways the Darfur Rebel Justice and Equality Movement, also known as JEM, enlisted boys as young as 10 to fight alongside them. Some were recruited in Darfur, others in the refugee camps of neighbouring Chad. But when JEM launched a surprise attack on Khartoum in May 2008, many boys saw their chance for escape. Tanks of Sudanese forces overwhelmed the rebel movement and the children fled, hungry and desperate, into nearby towns. They were only small, 15 or 16 years old, says one shopkeeper. They looked very tired and thirsty. Although several child soldiers were later picked up by the police, many, such as Ibrahim, were simply grateful to no longer have to fight: Thanks to God its over. But the future remains unclear for these child soldiers. The Sudanese government has reached an agreement with the international Red Cross to trace the boys parents but is still considering prosecuting the boys in juvenile court.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• darfur
• child
• sudan
• soldier
• recruit
• journeyman
• pictures
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[stypostve]

i hate oil not worth killing and doing this to children, just wrong, ,

[tommysch]

Zimbabwe, Taiwan, Kosovo, South Africa, and most african colonies. Remember Zimbabwe was the richest country in African 30 years ago, now its an independent shit hole.

[iamyourkingbitch]

@Caribbeanprincess1 I agree on the intervention part. But it has to be better conducted than the intervention in Lybia, and especially against the somali pirates

[mites7]

@watchdog15 so am I :)

[watchdog15]

@mites7 Im jewish and pro israel and i totally agree with you

[CharlineWeisberg]

wow..fantastic..faboulous ..watched this in webmovietube

[benchfordeath]

@020stevenleu honestly odds are those 7 are people who misunderstand the purpose of the dislike button. they probably clicked it meaning to express that they dislike the fact that there are child soldiers being forced into brutal warfare

[020stevenleu]

I usually hate dislike puns, but 7 people are heartless douchebags.

[lightsoutnow30]

@mites7 You are so right, when we went into Libya, suddenly I thought wow, when South Sudan has been needing help for over 20 years with their evil dictator. I am so disappointed with Obama!!!!

[fineguh]

thank God the country has been divided

[Piewayman]

@kitayabi Thats true, but only because the North (Mostly Arabs) committed Genocide on the South (mostly African), Just goes to show, theres no good and bad side in war