GOMA, DR CONGO // For the past two years, Benjamin was a child soldier in a rebel militia. Then two weeks ago, he made his escape. It was daytime when Benjamin slipped out of the rebel camp with his AK-47 rifle over his shoulder. He travelled on foot down seldom-used roads past farms and grazing cows in the green mountains of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He neared the UN peacekeeping base in the demilitarised zone, but still had to get past a checkpoint manned by the same rebels who had conscripted him into the militia at the age of 15. "If they catch me, they would kill me," said Benjamin, whose name has been changed for his protection like all child soldiers interviewed. The rebels tried to stop him, but Benjamin jumped into the bush and crouched down. As his commanders had taught him to do when surrounded, he opened fire on the rebels. They scattered and Benjamin scampered to freedom.
Now 17, Benjamin said he fled his unit because his commanders were preparing the troops for another battle that could potentially shatter the tenuous six-month peace that has held in this war-ravaged region. "Since I didn't die the first time I fought on the front lines, I can't go once again to the front," he said. "This time it could be different." Benjamin has the hardened demeanour of a soldier. He rarely smiles. His experience in battle has left him traumatised. He is fidgety and looks all around the room when talking.
The UN peacekeepers took Benjamin to a transit centre for recently demobilised child soldiers in Goma, the provincial capital. At the centre, known by its French abbreviation CAJED, Benjamin was given shoes and clothes. He sleeps in a dormitory with 200 other former child soldiers between the ages of 10 and 17. More child soldiers have been used during DR Congo's 10-year civil war than in any other conflict, according to Unicef, the UN children's fund. At the height of the conflict, 30,000 children were fighting in all of the region's two dozen armed groups. "You don't see in any other conflict that many children being used," said Pernille Ironside, a protection specialist at Unicef's Goma office. "It's massive."
Groups like Unicef are trying to get children out of the conflict. This is a challenge since the DR Congo's war is ongoing and many of the children who have left combat are re-conscripted into the militias, Ms Ironside said. About 3,000 children remain on the battlefield. Those that make it out are taken to centres like CAJED where they are given counselling and sent to school. "They have been witness to tremendous violence, forced to commit it themselves or subject to it. Usually all three," Ms Ironside said. "They have seen and done things that are horrendous. Absolutely they are traumatised."
Some of the former child soldiers at the centre will be trained for careers as electricians or carpenters. At the Buyora Garage in a gritty industrial section of Goma, Kasereka Lwanzo teaches former child soldiers how to repair cars. The boys, and a handful of girls who have also been demobilised from the conflict, spend six months learning mechanic skills before they are sent out to get jobs. "We help them relaunch their lives," Mr Lwanzo said. Toto, 22, is a graduate of the programme. He was 14 when he was forced into a rebel militia in 2000. He has been working on his own for the last four years as a welder earning US$5 (Dh18.4) to $10 per day.
"I wasn't happy with that life as a child soldier. We were sent to do things and if you said no, they would kill you," he said. "This training helped me to get a job. It was very helpful. Without it, life would be worse." Benjamin hopes to move on to a vocational training centre and learn a skill to get a well-paying job, but first he wants to see his family. He has not seen his parents or his brother and two sisters since he was taken into the militia, and it is too dangerous to visit them until the rebels are disarmed.
"I wish to go to my village, but I'm scared to be killed," he said. "The rebel soldiers are in the village. If I go there, I will be killed." For now, Benjamin is content to be living in the transit centre. Former child soldiers from all the rebel groups, including some of Benjamin's former enemies are live together under the same roof. Benjamin said he had made friends with some of them.
"We are living together with no problem," he said. "I'm happy to be living here among my brothers." @Email:mbrown@thenational.ae
