Child soldiers in Cote d'Ivoire.

[Nia Imani]

The Government of Ivory Coast has reportedly recruited hundreds of former fighters including child soldiers from Liberia in their fight against rebels in the North of the country.

The children have been promised money, clothes and jobs according to a Human Rights Watch report. HRW interviewed 13 Liberian ex-fighters including 8 children. All said they had been recruited by to Ivorian army officers to fight with a pro-government militia. They said they were all given uniforms and sent to training camps where there were scores of other children, some of whom were recruited from refugee camps in Ivory Coast. Three of the interviewees said that a Deputy Liberian minister was involved in the recruitement from the Liberian side.

It is estimated that some 11,000 Liberian children were disarmed and demobilized in 2004 and most were reunited with their families. However many whose parents had been either killed or could not be found still remain with their former commanders. It is this group of children that are particuarly vulnerable to further abuse such as being recruited to fight in Cote d'Ivoire.

Source http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_lo...vernment_.html