BY LIBAN OBSIYE & LIBAN A. HUSSEIN
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Earlier this month, Somali legislators selected Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud to become the country’s next president. In lengthy and
long-overdue indirect elections, Somalia’s 328 MPs voted for the former
president from 2012-2017 to return to the top job.
President Mohamud, who was immediately sworn in, faces
numerous tough challenges. These range from a devastating drought that risks
pushing millions into famine, to deep political divisions within Somalia’s
federal government and with state authorities.
Arguably his biggest task, however, will be to tackle
al-Shabaab and a recent rise in attacks. This March, suicide bombings killed 48
people in central Somalia. This month, an assault on an African Union base led
to the deaths of ten peacekeepers.
In confronting this challenge, President Mohamud’s new
administration will need to contend with the Islamist militants’ use of
children. Al-Shabaab is known to use boys as spies, logistics operatives and
combatants, including as suicide bombers. And it has been found to use girls as
cooks, cleaners, and “wives” as well as to spy or move weaponry.
Tackling this war crime head on will be critical to saving
thousands of children from myriad forms of abuse and, in some instances, death.
But it will also be essential to combating the al-Shabaab threat as a whole. In
almost all the groups’ acts of terrorism, young people are involved in some
capacity.
Recruiting children
Al-Shabaab has admitted to recruiting young people but has
denied that it recruits anyone under 15, which would violate international law.
The Islamist groups has said it enlists young people to religiously educate
them. By contrast, research by security agencies, Human Rights Watch and
academics suggests the militants use a combination of threats, financial
incentives, and often brutal violence.
Al-Shabaab has forcibly enlisted thousands of young people
against their and their families’ wills, but sometimes recruitment is more
complicated. In some cases, desperate families in poverty volunteer their
children as a last resort in return for money and support from the militants.
Al-Shabaab recruitment, among both adults and young people,
benefits from discontentment among Somalia’s population. The country has a
bulging young population with limited or no opportunities. Trust in the
government and its security institutions are low, and not helped by the courts’
failure to deliver justice for victims of abusive security forces. Somali
society is rife with corruption and inequality, exacerbated by the 4.5 clan
power-sharing system. And millions are facing or are closely threatened by the
prospect of a dire humanitarian crisis with inadequate local or international
support.
In the face of this, al-Shabaab claims to be meritocratic
and lures young recruits with the promise of money, marriage, and power. Most
of al-Shabaab’s child recruits are from areas the group holds or has a
significant presence in. But it is notable that its level of recruitment in big
cities like the capital Mogadishu is reportedly increasing.
Once recruited – forcibly or otherwise – al-Shabaab uses
vulnerable children for a variety of combat and non-combat operations. The
Islamist militants benefit from the fact that young people are likely to
attract less suspicion among security services and may be more susceptible to
the group’s violent ideology.
Recognising real
reasons
Over the past decade or so, Somali’s federal government has
attempted to combat al-Shabaab’s child recruitment in a variety of, ultimately
ineffective, ways.
It has launched media campaigns, for instance, aimed at
winning young militants back or dissuading those who might be tempted to join
al-Shabaab. Because these campaigns focused on the evils of the terrorist
groups rather than the needs of the children, however, they have made little
impact.
From 2012, subsequent governments have also employed the use
of amnesties and de-radicalisation programmes, run jointly with international
partners. Since 2018, the office of the Prime Minister has had a working group
for Combating Violent Extremism. These responses have similarly fallen short in
addressing the reasons families may succumb to al-Shabaab in the first place.
In these interventions, the voices and perspectives of children and their
families have largely been missing.
Somalia’s de-radicalisation programme focuses on
re-educating children who have returned from al-Shabaab or been captured in
battle. The young people are made to face up to their crimes and denounce the
group’s violent ideology. They are then supposedly provided with psychological
support to reintegrate into society. It is impossible to assess the programme’s
effectiveness, however, as it has never been publicly evaluated.
Nonetheless, the programme has operated as a feeder scheme
for the Somali security services, including the army, police, and national
intelligence agency. Many allegedly de-radicalised young people have been
drafted into government service. Without a clear assessment of the programme’s
effectiveness, this raises concerns that al-Shabaab could exploit this pipeline
to infiltrate Somali security organisations.
Unless President Mohamud’s administration honestly examines
the reasons that many young people and their families see joining al-Shabaab as
an attractive or necessary option, the Islamist militants will keep winning the
radicalisation war. To truly tackle child recruitment, his new government will
have to recognise that al-Shabaab’s greatest tools in turning Somalia’s future
generations against its present leadership are issues such as endemic poverty,
social exclusion, lack of basic public services, endemic corruption, paralysed
politics, and poor governance. An effective military strategy is also essential
to combatting al-Shabaab – insecurity allows militants to use brute force, torture
and abductions to recruit many child soldiers – but not sufficient.
Over three decades of civil war, the concept and uniqueness
of childhood in Somalia has been lost for many. One of President Mohamud’s
priorities on returning to office must be to work with international partners
to win back the nation’s youth to a more progressive and peaceful agenda for
national development. He did this as a pioneering educator and peace activist
in the past; he must now do it as leader of the nation.