9 Year Olds With AK47s: Africa’s Devastating Civil Wars
Soham Bhonagiri
Just this past Saturday, March 23, at least 15 people died in yet another al-Shabaab terrorist attack in the capital of the war stricken Somalia (Aljazeera). In a period of just five years, an estimated 383,000 people have died in the civil war of the current youngest country of the world, South Sudan (Specia). While many citizens of first world countries fret about what to Doordash for dinner, or when to watch that new movie, people in Somalia and South Sudan have to agonize about surviving in their unstable, war-riddled countries.
In the civil wars of South Sudan and Somalia, terrifying news is commonplace. After being backed by Western nations, South Sudan declared its independence in 2011 (Specia), plunging it into a gruesome civil war, much like Somalia which has been plagued with wars and government instability after its government was overthrown in 1991 (“Somalia”). The impact of these devastating wars can be exemplified through the children who are victimized by the conflict, and in the threat posed towards the aid workers who attempt to help.
The effects of these wars have devastated both nations, especially that of the use of child soldiers in conflict. Most parties involved in the conflicts, including the Somali National Army, have enlisted and abducted child soldiers causing many of them to be used in war or raped. In 2017, 2127 verified children were used and recruited in Somalia, in which 1634 of them were abducted and 931 killed and maimed (Secretary). While teens here in the US usually face horrors such as an article due for their English class, people in South Sudan, like a man named Emmanuel Jai have had to watch the rape of a close relative and witness the beheadings by terrorists, while being an active soldier from the age of nine (Jai). The children are easier to manipulate, and therefore are usually exploited for war or money. Further complicating the issue, many of these young victims are detained for their association with terrorist groups, albeit non-consensual, and are being treated as terrorists themselves, adding insult to injury (Secretary).
In addition to the use of children in the military, the people of both nations are suffering and in need of aid, but the aid workers themselves are being targeted in the war as well. In South Sudan alone, estimates show “that as of June 2018, local violence had forced 2.5 million people to flee across the border in search of safety and had left another 2 million internally displaced” (Roby). Due to violence, South Sudan is hard for the aid groups to access (Specia), and events like the shooting of the aid worker Maryan Abdullahi in Somalia (Sheik) make it also a dangerous place to provide the much needed aid. Young children like Jai were not able to get the help they needed, and the human rights violations and strife in Somalia and Sudan are not being mitigated properly due to the severity of the violence which impacts the aid workers. The situation is spiraling further out of control and aid is not able to be properly being administered to the people, stipulating the continuation of abuses.
The warring in South Sudan and Somalia remains unresolved today and this great humanitarian crisis in Africa prevails, year after year. Violations of human rights are commonplace, especially to marginalized individuals like children, and the situation has become so severe that the aid they require cannot be effectively provided, continuing the cycle of war, strife, and pain for those born into torn nations.
Works Cited :
Al Jazeera. “Somalia: At Least 15 Dead in Al-Shabab Assault on Mogadishu.” News | Al
Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 23 Mar. 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/somalia-dead-al- shabab-assault- mogadishu-190323083628840.html.
Jai, Emmanuel. “ I Fought as a Child Soldier in Sudan. And I Say Act Now on Darfur.” Gale,
The Independent on a Sunday, 2007, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.dop=GIC&u=los42754&id=GALE%7CA162738906&v=2.1&it=r&sid
The Independent on a Sunday, 2007, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.dop=GIC&u=los42754&id=GALE%7CA162738906&v=2.1&it=r&sid
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Moore, Jina, and Megan Specia. “10 South Sudan Aid Workers Are Abducted, U.N. Says.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/world/africa/south-sudan-aid-workers-abduction.html.
Roby, Christin. “South Sudan Again Ranked Most Dangerous Place for Aid Workers.” Devex,
15 Aug. 2018,
Secretary-General. “Somalia - United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Children and Armed Conflict | To Promote and Protect the Rights of All Children Affected by Armed Conflict.” United Nations, United Nations, 12 May 2018, childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/somalia/.
Sheikh, Abdi. “Somali Aid Worker Killed in Shooting in Mogadishu: Police.” Reuters,
Thomson Reuters, 1 May 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-shooting/somali-aid-worker- killed-in-shooting-in-mogadishu-police-idUSKBN1I23PU.
“‘Somalia." Worldmark Modern Conflict and Diplomacy.” Edited by Elizabeth P.
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Specia, Megan. “383,000: Estimated Death Toll in South Sudan's War.” The New York Times,
The New York Times, 27 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/world/africa/south- sudan-civil- war-deaths.html
My favorite aspect of your article is the good use of statistics. It was shocking to learn 2127 children were used and recruited in Somalia, and this really helped put a perspective on your main point.
ReplyDeletemy favourite thing about the article is your high amount of statistics used in a non-intrusive way. My main takeaway is that the these countries need to be stabilised somehow. My question is, why does the international community not try to use more direct means of aiding people in these countries?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of this article was how current and relevant the examples and sources were. The main takeaway is that the war in South Sudan and Somalia is adversely affecting civilians and needs to be addressed. What new ideas are being implemented to help try and aid this region?
ReplyDelete