In desperate bid for jobs, youths sign up as “volunteers”

Employment opportunities for the average young Guinean are limited, particularly in Nzerekore in the rural southeast, where for years thousands of young men operate as “volunteer” soldiers who supply their own uniforms, in the hope of one day getting a real military job and kit. “We are volunteers. We decided when there was aggression in Guinea, as patriots, to defend our country and our people,” said 18-year-old Jean Tamba Koundoouno, known as “Commandante” to his half dozen men, the oldest of whom is 23. “If we had a choice, we would prefer to be in the real military with a salary and a uniform.” Dressed in mismatching but neatly pressed fatigues made by local tailors, Koundoouno says the volunteers took up arms in 2000 - when he himself was only 13 - as Liberian and Sierra Leonean rebels brought their war over the nearby border and into Guinean territory. Asked if they have ever used a gun, they say they can’t reply - its “top secret” - but all of them have wielded a club. The only equipment in the flimsy hut that serves as their ‘post’ is a charcoal stove, some glasses and a small teapot. The UN estimates there are some 4,000 volunteer soldiers in Guinea’s lush “region forestiere”, or forest region. In the main town Nzerekore, volunteer soldiers can been seen dotted about the streets working as quasi-formal security for some of the many UN agencies and NGOs that have operations there, in return for a small allowance and money for uniforms. Over the last decade, Guinea has played host to one million refugees, according to the government, the fall out of civil wars in neighbouring Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. And the forest region, which sits snugly between all three, absorbed the bulk of the fleeing families prompting a host of humanitarian aid operations. But elections first in Sierra Leone in 2002, and more recently in Liberia last year, have finally sealed peace after more than a decade of brutal bush warfare. As a result, the humanitarian funds are drying up, offices are shutting down and refugees are being urged to go home. “Whether they stay or go, we will still be here,” said Koundoouno who has never had any other job other than as a volunteer soldier.

Every soldier has his own self-styled uniform

The UN’s World Food Programme has launched a pilot project to support the demobilisation of 60 volunteer soldiers who are learning skills through local NGOs in the hope they can find other work. If it is a success, the programme could be extended. But Koundoouno and his men are holding out for a military job: “The president has said that he will recruit more soldiers as others retire - we are here for that,” he said, unaware that last November the government retired off nearly 2,000 military personnel. Nzerekore is a two-day drive over cratered tarred roads and bumpy dirt tracks from the capital Conakry. There is no electricity in the town, save for the clattering generators of the international aid organisations and the hotels that have sprung up to cater for them. Life is so difficult that some Guineans have been discovered passing themselves off as refugees to gain access to camp facilities such as food distributions, clinics and schools, according to the UN agency for refugees, UNHCR. And according to figures from Medecins Sans Frontiers Switzerland, 90 percent of children treated for malnutrition in 2005 at Nonah transit camp for Ivorian refugees were in fact, Guinean. Diplomats are concerned that the scaling down of humanitarian operations will have a negative impact on the local population, not least by taking away desperately needed jobs, thus potentially fomenting instability. “Just look at France,” said one western diplomat referring to recent riots in Paris. “The lack of jobs and prospects for youths is enough to create problems in any country.” In an April 2005 report, Human Rights Watch identified lack of job opportunities as a major impediment to breaking the cycle of war in West Africa, where “regional warriors” can hop from one conflict to another in return for a few dollars, or perhaps the promise of looting.

Nzerekore is the main city in Guinea's 'forest region'

Sarah Ward, programme coordinator for International Rescue Committee, which operates 16 schools in five camps for Liberian refugees in the forest region as well as working in refugee protection, said that providing job opportunities is crucial to long term stability in the region. “Job creation and job opportunities are a problem in Sierra Leone now and I’m sure that they will become a problem in Liberia,” said Ward. “These Guinean communities have been negatively impacted by the arrival of these refugees and we need to help them as refugees and humanitarian assistance leave, too.” But the volunteers, who are brewing up another pot of tea as they begin a new day standing guard over not-very-much between the high walls of UN offices, are adamant that their only calling is to the Guinean army. “We like the military, but we would not fight for money,” said Koundoouno. “We do it for the love of our country, for the defence of our families.”