ANGOLA: Ex-girl soldiers hidden behind a veil of fear and denial

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
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ANGOLA: Ex-girl soldiers hidden behind a veil of fear and denial

[This article is part of an IRIN web special on the issue of child soldiers published today. In addition to this story, the web special includes a special report on the issue of child soldiers, other country-specific features, background documents and links to resources available for further reading on the Internet. To access the web special please go to: www.IRINnews.org/webspecials/childsoldiers/">

JOHANNESBURG, 12 December (IRIN) - How many young girls were used by Angola's warring parties during its 27-year war is anyone's guess. Denial - by both sides - and fear of discrimination and stigma among former girl soldiers continue to stand in the way of any effort to come up with precise figures.

Both the government and the former rebel group, UNITA, have in the past denied recruiting child soldiers. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed that minors were widely used by both sides during the conflict. The exact number remains a contentious issue, but conservative estimates put the number of children who bore arms for UNITA at 6,000. HRW has noted that the actual figure was probably much higher.

The refusal to acknowledge the role played by child soldiers, especially girls, during Angola's hostilities has complicated efforts by aid groups to address the problem.

Christian Children's Fund (CCF) in Angola is one of the few NGOs that have attempted to tackle the needs of children who participated in the war, but it says it has had to broaden the scope of its project to include all children, not only child soldiers.

The CCF director in Angola, Vivi Stavrou, told IRIN: "Our programmes targeting children in Angola have a broad focus. We are interested in the impact war has had on all children, especially since the majority of children have in some way or the other been victims of civil war. We would hope that within these programmes the needs of so-called 'child soldiers' will be identified and addressed."

HRW uses the definition of a child soldier adopted at a UN Children's Fund-backed international symposium in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1997. According to that definition, a child soldier is "any person under 18 years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to, cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members".

While research into boy soldiers has received attention, very little has been reported on the plight of girls, who were often used by UNITA as cooks, domestics, and porters.

There have also been reports that women and girls were given to UNITA commanders and visitors and forced into sexual relations. Other girls were forced into marriages with UNITA combatants. HRW contends that refusals were met with punishment, and attempts to escape often meant death.

A report released soon after Angola's April 2002 ceasefire by the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), noted that girls aged as young as 13 were used as porters, camp followers and concubines by UNITA. "Indeed, girls were often required to render sexual services and the majority are abducted for the primary purpose of serving as 'wives' to the male soldiers."

HRW said girls were often the victims of sexual abuse by government soldiers in the field, and occasionally were obliged to provide services. However, the rights group was unable to document the use of girls as soldiers by government forces.

Stavrou explained that the stigma associated with the abuse women and girls suffered during war has made it difficult to formulate programmes targeting this vulnerable group.

"It is a lot more difficult to determine just how many girls had been forced into marriage with soldiers," she said. "Often young women are afraid to reveal their involvement in the war, for fear that they will be discriminated against by community members.

"Often research is gathered from word of mouth, and when these former girl soldiers are approached they shy away from questions which probe their past lives. It would seem they would rather let it go."

She noted that girls who may have participated as active combatants with UNITA also confronted severe challenges when reintegrating into family and society.

According to Stavrou, many a young girl who had seen combat may have had to conceal the role she played, and adopt the subservient roles that custom demands. "For fear of total rejection by her husband's family, [she] must pretend to be the gentle, soft-spoken and submissive woman that her civilian counterpart is."

In an attempt to shed light on the role of women and girls during the war, CCF has commissioned research into the issue to provide a basis for interventions.

"We expect the research to take some time, given the constraints, but the results are likely to produce a clearer picture of what is needed, and how the aid community can assist," Stavrou said.

Many of the young women in demobilisation camps at the end of the war highlighted the need for education, HRW noted following a series of interviews in 2002. "Currently attending classes run by adults in the camps, they hoped to resettle in their home communities and return to primary school," HRW said.

[ENDS]

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