Children being forced to fight in Somalia — UNHCR

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GENEVA, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Children as young as 12 are being recruited to fight in the conflict between Somali government forces and rival Islamists, the United Nations refugee agency said on Saturday.

William Spindler, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR), said between 55,000 and 60,000 people have been uprooted by the recent military escalation.

“What is most worrying is that there have been reports of some of the displaced being recruited to take part in the fighting. In some cases, children as young as 12 have been recruited,” Spindler said.

Camps in the Beder, Barrawe and Manomofa regions have all seen recruitment take place — sometimes by force — with both sides of the conflict targeting the displaced, he said. “

These are very vulnerable people. They have been chased away from their homes and are now being forcibly recruited,” Spindler said.

Some 164 refugees crossed into North Eastern Kenya from Southern Somalia on Friday, mainly women and children from the Kisimayo area who feared for their lives, Spindler said. Still, he said overall refugee numbers remain lower than some had predicted. “The number of people crossing into Kenya is relatively small, given the fighting,” Spindler said, noting that recent flooding may have hampered movement out of Somalia. Islamic forces could also have stopped some people from crossing the border.

There are around 170,000 Somali refugees already in Kenya, following 15 years of civil conflict in Somalia and a series of natural disasters across the Horn of Africa, including severe droughts and floods. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday that hundreds of people may have been killed in the recent upsurge in fighting, which it called the heaviest in a decade in Somalia.

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Filed under Child soldiers, Children, Kenya, Refugees, Somalia analysis, UNHCR