Chad's Boy Soldiers Slowly Grasp Lost Childhood

|PIC1|In an anonymous compound in Chad's capital N'Djamena, young boys clad in matching shirts play volleyball, shrieking and clapping with delight.

A fight breaks out in an adrenaline-fuelled frenzy of punching and kicking that betrays their past as child soldiers.

"This is nothing," an aid worker said. "When they first arrived here, they'd fight each other with anything they could get their hands on. They'd be covered in blood."

The boys, mostly 13-16 years old but some appearing barely 8, have been at this centre run by the Christian Children's Fund (CCF) for 10 days after being demobilised from the FUC, a notorious rebel group whose leader defected to the government.

The UN Security Council is due to discuss the plight of children in conflict on July 23. In Chad, rights workers say all sides have used child fighters in a 19-month, on-off eastern revolt fomented by violence over the border in Sudan's Darfur.

Access to military camps is restricted and figures are hard to come by, but by some estimates 7,000 to 10,000 children are fighting in the national army, or rebel and militia groups.

For the boys in N'Djamena, the change from harsh military regime to civilian life has been huge.

"Before, I didn't know life could be like this," said a 16-year-old who spent more than two years with the FUC.

"Here we have everything -- there is water and food, and to see trees around us in the compound is wonderful. The welcome we had when we arrived was very warm, it's a big change from our life in Mongo," he said.

The youth is one of 413 children demobilised from the town of Mongo, a FUC stronghold in central Chad, in the past few weeks under an agreement between UNICEF and the government.

They stay in temporary centres while contact is made with relatives in the hope of returning them to their extended families or, if they are rejected, to host foster families.


"FORGET THE VIOLENCE"

Because the children have so newly arrived, aid workers are not probing too deeply into their past, instead focusing on education, sport and learning to play without violence.

"Some of the children were very violent when they arrived, but gradually they are changing their behaviour," Brahim Abdulai, the centre's supervisor, told Reuters.

"They are very conscious that they were living in a different state before and they must try to forget the violence ... We are teaching them to love their friends, and not to get angry if someone does something bad to them," he said.

The boys' days follow a routine of prayer, rest and games like playing cards and volleyball, as well as basic literacy lessons on a giant blackboard -- a novelty for most of them.

|PIC2|"There, we didn't play games, all we did was fight," said a boy who grew up in N'Djamena, but found himself fighting with rebels for almost a year as a personal bodyguard for a FUC general. He said he was 13 years old but aid workers suspect he is just 8 or 9.

"In terms of security this centre is much better: I haven't made war in the whole time I have been here. It's a big difference. We were always worried about security, but now we play games like football and I have clothes to play sports in."

Like many of the children, the boy has already started dreaming of a better future. He wants to train as a mechanic.

"I want to go back to school," volunteered another boy, who said he was 15. "I want to study to become a doctor."


TRAUMA

But some have missed so much school it will be hard to catch up, and many are suffering from psychological trauma.

"Some children feel the need to talk," said Sandra Maignant, child demobilisation coordinator for CCF Chad.

"We will start holding group discussions with the possibility of individual sessions ... The family environment is very important. If the child sees his family is ready to accept him, that's his best chance of improving," Maignant said.

Aid workers have welcomed the demobilisation of FUC fighters, but worry the Chadian government is not doing enough to demobilise others, especially those in its own army.

A report by Human Rights Watch this week accused Chad's government of denying UNICEF's request to visit Chadian military camps, where sources say child soldiers are based.

"The Chadian government is failing on its promise to remove children from its armed forces," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Child soldiers present a thorny problem for Chad President Idriss Deby's government as it seeks moral high-ground over neighbouring Sudan, which N'Djamena says is backing the rebels.

"They (the government) don't want to dirty their image," a foreigner who has followed demobilisation efforts told Reuters.

"They just say 'we don't have child soldiers' -- there is no discussion. But they are visibly present in military camps in Mongo, as well as in Abeche, and even here in N'Djamena," said the source, who declined to be identified.

"There is nobody taking part in this conflict who is not using child soldiers," added the source.