Chaos in Kivu
Refugee children, displaced by continued fighting in north Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), queue for food in the Nyakabande refugee transit camp in Kisoro town, 521 km (324 miles) southwest of Uganda's capital Kampala, July 13, 2012. Some 11,000 DRC refugees are still at Nyakabande camp awaiting relocation to permanent settlements said UNHCR officials. (REUTERS/James Akena)
During a trip to the region in June, three armed groups told VICE News that they were approached in recent months by government soldiers to collaborate on fighting other groups and instigate more violent clashes throughout the region. Congo’s government denies any association with armed groups and the notion that Kabila is trying to incite violence in the east.One thing is clear, however: Kabila has struggled mightily to contain the country's breakaway east, where approximately 140 armed groups currently operate in the forests of Congo’s North and South Kivu provinces alone — up from 120 one year earlier, according to the Kivu Security Tracker.This proliferation translates into greater recruitment of child soldiers, said Becquevort.“They’ve witnessed many violations, sexual abuse and torture.”
“I thought about death”
A social worker walks with two former child-soldiers, Viane (left) and another boy, in CAJED, the transit center in Goma, which helps prepare children to return to their families after life at war. Sam Mednick for VICE News.
More than 3,000 children, including 428 girls, left armed groups and were assisted with reintegration programs in 2017, says UNICEF.“What we see is only the tip of the iceberg.”
“I felt it was the only solution.”
Former child soldiers sit in a makeshift classroom learning language skills in CAJED, a transit center in Goma, as they prepare to return home. Sam Mednick for VICE News.
Congo’s national army is calling on both the state and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Congo to break the vicious cycle of the country’s child soldier problem.“If a child leaves a family [to go to the army] for economic reasons, then after a month of being demobilized he goes back to his family and then back to the army, it’s the government’s responsibility to fix the economy,” said Ndjike-Kaiko Guillaume, director of communication and information for the army in North Kivu. “All partners need to support the government to fight the real cause of the issue,” he added.Singura regrets the decision he made eight years ago to fight. Now 16, the lanky teenager’s dream is to become a driver. No matter how dire things get, he says, he’ll never return to the bush.“Even if I have no food, even if I have nothing, I will never go back,” he said. “Because at every moment, you think you could die.”Cover image: CAJED is a transit center for youth after leaving the army and before returning to their families.“It’s a long process to help them forget.”