Soccer star appeals to warlords to release child soldiers

Liberian international soccer star and UNICEF goodwill ambassador George Oppong Weah said on Thursday he would personally appeal to the leaders of the country's three armed factions to release an estimated 15,000 child soldiers serving in their ranks. Weah said after visiting a group of former child soldiers at a church-run interim care centre, that adults should not make children do things that they were not prepared or qualified to do responsibly. "You know our constitution forbids children from becoming president, so why should those who claim to be law-abiding citizens, the adults, give arms to children to be on the frontline," Weah told IRIN in an interview. "We must put an end to this to ensure better life for our children." Weah, 37, returned to Liberia this week after a two year absence to publicise the plight of children affected by Liberia's 14-year civil war. The conflict officially ended with a peace agreement in August last year, but thousands of child soldiers still carry guns as the former government and the two rebel groups which opposed it await disarmament by UN peacekeepers. On Thursday Weah visited a group of about 100 demobilized child soldiers at a special camp run by the Roman Catholic Church 10 km west of the capital Monrovia. He apologised to the children on behalf of other adults whom he said had made them victims of exploitation and abuse while denying them education and health care. Many of those he spoke to were optimistic about the future. "I have now found that life is important and there is a need to go to school and learn to become good citizen," said Sanitiki Kamara, who was recruited to fight for former president Charles Taylor when he was just 11. Kamara, who is now 16, said he fought for five years for the Navy Division, one of Taylor's most feared militia units. Nine-year-old Amos Bany described how he had lost contact with his parents in 1999 after an attack on his village in Lofa county in Northwest Liberia, when he was just four. He said he tagged along with fighters the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group to survive. And in 2001, when he was just seven, he started firing a gun for them. "To hold guns is not good for children, you cannot sleep good, you can not eat good food and you are treated like dog," Amos told IRIN." Now I see that I will have a good future by going to school." The demobilized child soldiers at the care centre were among those fighters disarmed by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) last December at the start of a disarmament programme that is currently suspended. Most had fought for Taylor, who is now in exile in Nigeria. The UN peacekeepers are preparing to resume the disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation exercise in February. UNICEF has announced plans to establish interim care centers throughout Liberia for demobilized child soldiers who hand in their guns. Samuel Momanyi, an official of UNICEF-Liberia said: "UNICEF is going to work with all its local and international partners for more care centers to be established where children will receive support and be reintegrated into society." The Roman Catholic child welfare group, Don Bosco Homes already operates two interim care centers in Monrovia catering for 156 children. David Konneh, the deputy director of these shelters said they provided psycho-social counselling and recreation facilities for demobilized child soldiers. "We are planning open one center in Tubmanburg very soon" he added. Tubmanburg is a stronghold of LURD, 60 km northwest of Monrovia. UN peacekeepers from Pakistan established a presence there at the end of December. George Weah who became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1997, is on a four-day visit to Liberia to support the disarmament process and the transitional government's UN-supported back to school campaign. Wear is an international soccer star who played for Italian club AC Milan and AS Monaco and Paris St. Germain in France. He picked up a string of international awards for his performance including FIFA World Player of the Year in 1995. He went on to play for UK premiership sides Chelsea and Manchester City.