CHILDREN IN COMBAT

"If you don't kill, yourself, you are killed."

-- Jimmy Otim, a former child soldier in northern Uganda

Around the world, about 250,000 boys and girls younger than 18 today are involved in violent conflicts. Many of them are abducted or join fighting forces out of desperation because of poverty, abuse or starvation.

In at least 13 countries, including Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, underage soldiers are being recruited or coerced into joining armies, despite decade-old international guidelines for ending the use of child soldiers, according to Save the Children UK.

In Uganda, most abductions take place at night or when children are on their way to school, said Otim, a writer and researcher who has worked for several humanitarian organizations trying to quell the violence in his native country.

Otim is the field public information and outreach assistant for the International Criminal Court, which is working to prosecute rebel commanders who used child soldiers. He arranged interviews with four former child soldiers and translated their native Acholi language into English for Y-Press.

Upon entering rebel army camps, new child soldiers often go through an initiation.

"And that initiating is very cruel. You are forced to do bad things, so that you are brainwashed and you begin thinking like they think," said Otim, who was abducted from school along with about 20 other children and then spent nine months in captivity. He was forced to write prescriptions for the commanders and do other communication work, such as translating, for them. The commanders were illiterate, Otim said.

Boys and girls both are forced to kill and beat other children. In Uganda, boys are more likely to be in combat on the front lines; girls more often become sex slaves and do all the cleaning and cooking, often going hungry themselves.

In the DRC, both girl and boy soldiers are often forced to shoot and kill on the front lines, said Laura Engelbrecht, a former U.S. State Department employee, who also worked for the U.S. Embassy in the DRC. She now serves as a Washington, D.C.-based consultant on African affairs.

Why would young children -- not as strong or knowledgeable as most adults -- be in such demand by rebel armies?

Engelbrecht listed several reasons:

Children's sense of morality is not yet developed -- making them easy to control.

Children are more fearless than adults, because they often don't have a concept of death, or they don't believe that they will die.

Children can shoot and kill more easily than ever before because of the availability of AK-47s -- automatic weapons that are light and simple to operate.

The peoples of Uganda and the DRC have suffered for many years as their countries have been torn apart by civil conflicts.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a five-year war ended in 2003. The conflict involved various tribal factions, rebels and neighboring countries. War-related death estimates range from 2.5 million to 4 million. The country is still faltering, and recent skirmishes among government and tribal factions have resulted in more than 100 killings.

The International Criminal Court, the first permanent global war-crimes court, is launching its first trial against Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese militia leader who prosecutors say trained children as young as 10 to kill and who let them be killed.

The same court, supported by 104 nations, excluding the United States, has also issued arrest warrants for leaders of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA has led a 20-year battle in Uganda that has killed thousands of innocent civilians. It is also accused of widespread use and abuse of child soldiers.

The LRA and the Ugandan government agreed to a cease-fire last summer, which expired at the end of February.

However, both groups are scheduled to meet for peace talks this month in an attempt to end the 20-year rebellion, which has forced 1.6 million people from their homes in Northern Uganda and forced at least 20,000 children to serve as soldiers. Tens of thousands of people have been killed or maimed in the conflict.

Former child soldier Madeleine, whose last name was withheld for security reasons, is a former child soldier, now acts as a youth activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is helping other child soldiers reintegrate into society in the DRC.

The 15-year-old recently spoke before a United Nations forum in New York City, calling for the international community to do more to stop crimes against female child soldiers, who too often have been abused, raped and killed.

"What happened to us is not our fault," Madeleine said at the U.N. forum. "We were victims of selfish interests and in that sense everybody is guilty -- our own communities as well as the international community."

After speaking in New York, Madeleine traveled to Indianapolis to spread the word further about the need to help young female soldiers.

"Girls face many untold problems and need to quit having feelings of shame or stigma. I wanted to be a voice for them and take on a leadership role and speak out saying what they want and need," Madeleine said in a separate interview with Y-Press.

Even after wars end, child soldiers face a long road of recovery for both physical and psychological injuries.

Many receive no help at all, ending up as homeless beggars or in small gangs to survive, Engelbrecht said.

"You end up with a lot of kids on the street -- kids who are used to getting their way by violence. They can be a threat to the community and to society because they're used to ordering people around and having them obey them, and if they don't, they shoot them."

Some former child soldiers do receive counseling, medical attention and family reunification help. For example, Otim founded and leads Gomotong Peace Center Building, a program that helps former child soldiers reintegrate into the community by having youth teach conflict resolution and basic peace education.

Tuition for school or advanced training is needed for many child soldiers, too, but is often scarce, agreed Otim and Engelbrecht.

Americans can help by educating themselves about these conflicts occurring worldwide and by staying focused on their developments, Engelbrecht said. They also can urge their legislators to support international humanitarian causes.

Otim agreed. "Whether it's financial, moral or spiritual help, these children need it," he said. "The child soldiers have nothing. These kids need to know that they are part of the world community, and some people care for them somewhere."

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Andrea Phillips, 18; Zoe Hayes, 18; and Izaak Hayes, 16.

REPORTER: Colleen Drew, 15.

"We were victims of selfish interests, and in that sense everybody is guilty -- our own communities as well as the international community."

Madeleine, former child soldier

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For a week at www.Indy Star.com and later at www .ypress.org, you can read narratives of Ugandan youth like Ida Aryamo, 20, who was forced to join Ugandan rebels in the civil war.

Read about Denis Okwongo, who was forced to become a soldier and fight in the war, while becoming brainwashed by rebels into fearing the government and authorities who could help him.

You can also learn about Arach Kevin, who was abducted at the age of 10 and faced prejudice and taunts when reintegrating into the community -- and other problems she continues to deal with.

Finally, read about Christopher Okello, who was taken with his older brother while farming with his family, and who saw rebels shoot his brother before being forced to join them.

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