Child Soldiers in Africa

Young people have been at the forefront of political conflict in many parts of the world, even when it has turned violent. In some conflicts, for a variety of reasons, including coercion, poverty, or the seductive nature of violence, young children become killers before they are able to grasp the complexities of morality. Yet it has been only in the past ten years that this component of warfare has captured the attention of the world. Images of boys carrying guns and ammunition are now commonplace as they flash across television screens and appear on the front pages of newspapers. Less often, but equally disturbingly, stories of girls pressed into the service of militias surface in the media.