2023-04-26 04:25:00
Faced with a professional and determined army, the enemy desperately uses all means to achieve its objective. Witness the suicide attack of this Saturday, April 22, 2023 against the airport area of Sévaré where children aged 10 to 16 were part of the fighters used by the terrorists.
This revelation made by the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, General of Division Oumar Diarra, on the set of the ORTM TV Journal. This sad reality now raises the thorny question of the use of child soldiers by armed groups, who are now exposed to military operations on the ground.
Cornered and disoriented by the strike force and professionalism of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA), the terrorists who today have difficulty recruiting young people into their ranks to join their cause, no longer hesitate to resort to child soldiers.
The latter are for the most part indoctrinated and trained in the handling of weapons and the abject exploitation of these child soldiers. Anything that is contrary to the various resolutions of the United Nations and International Humanitarian Law on the rights of children sometimes puts the Malian Armed Forces in the field in difficulty.
According to Adama Konaté, jurist and expert in International Humanitarian Law, the use of child soldiers is now a reality that must now be taken into account. He explains that the phenomenon is linked to the attrition of the GAT (Armed Terrorist Group) and also to the fact that the latter are now having difficulty recruiting young suicide bombers.
“The recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed groups destroys families and communities. Worse still, children are exposed to incomprehensible levels of violence,” he added.
For other human rights defenders, today the use of child soldiers by terrorists should lead to thinking about the case of minors captured on the front.
According to an officer of the Malian Army who earned his pension rights, the various actions carried out today by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) on the ground against terrorists are bearing fruit. However, he warns, the use of child soldiers by terrorists is a long-term threat.
“The use of child soldiers is not new, because in 2013 Al-Qaeda pushed young recruits into the Sahelian terrain. And their presence in the terrorist ranks is intended to divert the vigilance of the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) or to serve as a human shield, because each image of a dead child on the front is likely to be misinterpreted and can weaken the operation. . he hammered.
He also stressed that the fight against terrorism is a long-term fight which requires synergy of action at all levels.
However, questions: What are NGOs and associations doing today to protect the rights of children against their use by terrorist groups?
What hides the silence of the NGOs responsible for the protection of children?
Are these NGOs complicit in the situation?
How many children are today recruited by terrorist groups on the ground? In any case, these questions deserve to be asked because nothing can justify their inertia.
Case to follow
Mohamed Kanouté
Source : Mali24
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