Interview with a child soldier...

personal trip to Sierra Leone, West Africa

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
By Marianne Clyde

Abubakkar was 11 years old and on his way to school in the village of Lumsa when the rebel soldiers attacked his town and captured him. They gave him heavy things to carry on his head for 45 miles from Lumsa to Makeni. They detained him at Mile 91 (a village on the way), and gave him a weapon. Taught to kill, burn, loot and rape, he was taken to Guinea, where he was wounded. With fragments of shrapnel in his back, he was commended by the rebels because of the amount of goods he was able to loot. He was put in charge of all the looted property when they reached Makeni, while he was healing from his injury. Then came his moment of truth. January 6, 1999, the rebels brought him to Freetown, bombing, killing, looting and patrolling. They took him to where his parents were. Entering the house, he saw more than 20 friends and family. But this was not to be a happy reunion. With tears in his eyes, he explains how he set fire to the house. Forced to kill family members, this boy cannot even bring himself to say what he was forced to do to his own mother and others.
Now, 15, Abubakkar has been at the child soldier camp at St. Michael’s. After the disarmament, he was brought to the camp. As in each case, the social workers try to locate his family. His family wants nothing to do with him. He is afraid to face his mother. They have threatened to take him to court.
Now, he pleads with us to understand that he was high on drugs, and threatened with his own execution if he did not carry out the atrocities he finds so hard to speak about. He was abducted and forced to carry those things out, he explains. “I have changed. Now I want to go to school and learn to be an electrician, but there is no one to pay for my education.” He prays for God to have mercy. His eyes fill with tears and his voice trails off, “It was not my wish to destroy.”
His story is only one of many heartbreaking tales. Sheka Conteh remembers the day. He was 13 and working as a diamond digger. It was six o’clock and he was on his way home with six other friends, when they were confronted by rebels. The rebels asked for a human sacrifice and they were to choose among themselves. When they refused, they were offered a deal: to sacrifice or join the rebel army. They joined the army.
Sheka explains that he is a well trained soldier. He recounts the battles and atrocities as they moved from village to village. When they were attacked by a government gunship, his right leg was shot up pretty well. He went to Kamakwi where a rebel doctor chopped his foot off. After staying there a year, he was advised that SBO’s (small boy operators) were to be taken to Makeni and disarmed. Then he was sent to Port Loko, another camp where the social workers thought they had found his family. Now, at St. Michael’s they are not able to locate them. He can’t remember how much he has killed because he was drugged all the time, he explains. “One thing I know,” he shakes his head, “it was bad.” He wants someone to help him locate his family. He wants help with his leg. He wants to be a radio mechanic. He’s 17 now. He doesn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. “I’ve been through the war. I’m looking for my family. I want people to forgive me for what I’ve done.” When asked if he thinks God has forgiven him, his response is flat, “Yes, otherwise I would be dead by now.”
The issues are not easy. Two years ago, a family wouldn’t think of letting these boys reunite with them. They are afraid. They are angry. Now while many are making a way, others can’t seem to forgive or forget. What would you do?

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