Jihadi Du Jour: Somali children soldiers need rehabilitation

Originally posted at Right Truth

We have reported on recent events in Somalia, their fight against the Islamic Courts Union and al-Qadea terrorists, the aid given to them by neighboring countries to fight these terrorists. What we haven't heard is information on the estimated 70,000 children conscripted into Somaliaâs fighting factions, exposed to attacks, separated from their families. (IRNA)

These children have been recruited over time and now about 70,000 are involved in this conflict, on all sides," said Qamar Aden, the chairwoman of Somaliaâs parliamentary committee on human rights. This figure was provided by the United Nations Joint Needs Assessment team for Somalia, she said.
However, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, in a 2004 report, estimated that 200,000 children had been recruited into the different factions of Somalia's conflict over a 14-year period.

Aden said [that] the government had released all child soldiers captured in the fighting with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). However, those released do not undergo any form of rehabilitation due to a lack of capacity in the Transitional Federal Government. [snip]

âNow we are asking the international community to help us rehabilitate these children,â Aden said. (read more)

This is an opportunity to save a generation of young boys from a future life of war and terrorism. This is an opportunity to show them a childhood, educate them, help them to grow up to be good citizens of this world.

Somalia has gone through a lot and has shown the world they seem to be serious about NOT living under sharia law. This is an opportunity for the world to do something that might have a real influence on their future.

Dr. Michael A. Weinstein writes that Somalia is entering a devolutionary cycle. It doesn't have to be that way:

During the last two weeks of January, the future political configuration of Somalia and the dispositions of external actors toward the country became more apparent, as a devolution of power to sub-societies got underway that international and regional players seemed too weak and half-hearted to arrest.

Somalia is a part of the war on terror and it behooves us to help them keep the ICU out. Read " Successes and Setbacks in the âLong Warâ" at The Infidel Sage. The list of successes and setbacks is long and worth reading. The writer reminds us that there IS a plan to fight this war:

A year ago the Pentagon released its Quadrennial Defense Review. It was essentially a strategy for a 20-year âlong warâ and a generational battle plan designed to prepare the military for a Cold War type struggle against the forces of militant Islam. According to the official unveiling:
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, our nation has fought a global war against violent extremists who use terrorism as their weapon of choice, and who seek to destroy our free way of life. Our enemies seek weapons of mass destruction and, if they are successful, will likely attempt to use them in their conflict with free people everywhere. Currently, the struggle is centered in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we will need to be prepared and arranged to successfully defend our nation and its interests around the globe for years to come.
[snip]
It is imperative to not forget the dramatic successes that the West has accomplished, and to remember and learn from the setbacks that it has experienced. We are still at the beginning of this war, not the end, and the strategies, successes and setbacks we face in the future will be shaped and determined by what we have both achieved, and failed to achieve, in the past.

Helping these children is something that the United Nations could do, if they really wanted to be relevant. Somalia can be a success in the war on terror. (Just keep the U.N. child molesters away from the boys.)

Labels: children, Somalia, terror, United Nations