One Day of War, a TV program that was broadcasted recently by the BBC, focused the life of a young boy called Mukhtar. This boy and I share a common name, Mukhtar, but no relationship. This boy lived in Mogadishu the capital city of Somali’s failed stated and used to earn his meagre income by freelancing with the militia.

He was born after the civil war broke out in 1991. The war disrupted all sides of the state apparatus and claimed many lives including Mukhtar’s immediate family. Unfortunately, his guardians, the only family he had, were militias; and he used to earn his bread through the barrel of his gun. This young boy had never been taught the three Rs (reading, ‘riting and 'rithmetic); to put it bluntly, he never had any schooling.

At the beginning of his short life, he was terrified and made captive until he became a fighting machine, despite all these he had dreams and hopes that would never be realised as he was peppered with bullets soon after the program was made. From the day he was born till the day he met his death he saw nothing else but violence. Thus, how was he expected to lead a normal life? More importantly, how can a generation like this ever enjoy life without violence?

Before we go further it is important to mention that the term “child” is confusing. In Somali, life expectancy is 47 years; therefore, it is difficult to divide the life span into baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult and elderly. More confusingly, socio-economic status determines if a person is to be considered as a youth or an adult.

Due to the civil war, small-scale weapons are abundant everywhere in Somalia and armed militia groups use these weapons to fight rival groups and sometimes to terrorise the public. These lighter weapons such as AK47 allow boys, as young as nine, to be armed and Mukhtar was proud of his deadly toy.

It is estimated that there are three hundred thousand child soldiers around the world and in civil war it is difficult to tell the difference between a soldier and a civilian. In Somalia, there is lack of availability of definite statistics about child soldiers but it is believed warlords or gang leaders use a significant number of children to fulfil their operations. In a war torn society children are more directly exposed to the harmful effects of the war. Poverty plays a crucial role by removing any safe net and limiting children choices to ‘fight or die’ situation.

The adult leaders usually exploit the innocence of children since they are defenceless and are a ready source of recruitment for lawbreakers. Gang leaders like to use children because they don’t eat as much as adults; they are easier to control and less demanding. More importantly, they are fearless and loyal.

Adult commanders use stick and carrot approach to recruit the children. During these surreal years, a large number of children are forced to fight or led to believe that they are fighting for a course or revenge. One of the coercive methods used by these unscrupulous warlords is to fill children bodies with drugs and told them that they will be killed if they disobey orders. Those who turn out to be fighting machines are paraded as heroes in order to seduce others.

The recruitment method has not been the same throughout the strife. Group leaders sometimes use inducement baits such as food, clothing, shelter and empty promises to lure children to join the groups. The young boys do not shape their future and do not fight their own fights, but they fight for whoever controls or hires them in order to stay alive.

Today’s children will be tomorrow’s leaders but if they are taught only how to maim and slay, we are planting the destructive seeds of tomorrow’s social fabrics. To cite an example, in 1996 less than 10 percent of school-aged children were enrolled at schools, and a mere 5 percent were enrolled at secondary schools. The disheartening question is ‘what about the rest?’

The warlords and the children are becoming like 400-meter relay team, the warlords are passing the children the gun and the killing culture with testament that advocates violence. These children may become another lost generation similar to those who instigated the violence and pass their experience to the subsequent generation. This may become a vicious circle if it is not addressed in earnest.

There is another element to this debate namely stigmatisation. Those who consider themselves as civilised or educated often stigmatise youth combatants as evil (mooryaan) because these children are not normally from urban areas and they are uneducated. This attitude is not going to help these children to integrate into the society and they may consider themselves as social outcasts that have nothing to go back to.

It is important not only to look these young villains who pillage and kill their own people but we need to look further especially the old, hidden villains who plot to gain from the suffering of the Somali people.

It is debatable whether these boys are proxies or instruments but it is axiomatic that there has been a collective failure to protect these children at family level, at clan level and at community level as well. Observant readers may realise that I haven’t included ‘governmental level’ and I left it for an obvious reason. No viable government.

Those who were born after the collapse of Somali government are now entering into adulthood stage and they need to be put right while there is still a chance and given constructive social incentives otherwise we may witness another lost generation ensuing another one.

Mohamed Mukhtar Ibrahim

London

Email:   mohamed323@hotmail.com