Former child soldiers begin rehabilitation

Some 227 former child soldiers have arrived at a rehabilitation centre outside Kigali, Rwanda, after being held near the conflict zone in northwest of the country where they were captured, a press release from UNICEF said on Monday. The children, ranging from the age of 10 to 18 years, said most of them were forcibly recruited and trained in eastern DRC. In late May, clashes erupted in northwestern Rwanda between the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and “infiltrators” from the DRC. After two weeks of conflict, the RPA gained control over most of the area, periodically capturing opposing fighters. Of approximately 1,000 combatants taken into custody through early August, several hundred were children, UNICEF said. Initially kept under the custody of military authorities, the children were soon transferred to a “solidarity” camp in Mudende in Gisenyi prefecture set up by the civilian authorities to re-educate those who had been captured or who had surrendered, UNICEF said. To help care for the children, UNICEF provided health supplies, water, sanitation facilities and basic survival items including mattresses, blankets and bed sheets. “By early August, nearly 300 children had been taken into custody, at a rate of about 50 children per week,” UNICEF’s chief programme officer in Rwanda Gerry Dyer said. “Approximately 85 percent of the children are Rwandan, the rest Congolese,” he said. The children, transferred to Gitegata rehabilitation centre outside Kigali over the last several days, are now receiving psycho-social counseling and non-formal education provided by UNICEF and its partners. “We are attempting to locate their families and prepare them for government sources had indicated that another 200 former child soldiers could arrive at the centre over the next month,” he said. “I lost both my parents and only one of my sisters survived, UNICEF quoted 15-year-old Mbarushimana as saying. “We were forced to join the rebel forces and to perform tasks like water collection, food preparation and carrying soldiers’ loads. I am happy to be back in Rwanda - I feel safe and would like to resume school activities,” he said. “We don’t believe the children should stay in Gitagata for more than six months,” Dyer said. “While we try to locate their families, all possible, measures are being taken to provide them with the care and protection they deserve - both now and later, when they return home. That’s their right,” he added.