The Federal Government of Somalia has announced that it will be sending 35 children rescued from an al Shabaab training camp last week to rehabilitation centers for deradicalization and recovery before reuniting with their families. U.S. and Somali special operations forces recovered the 35 children during a raid on an al-Shabab camp at Jamea Jidyale, a village approximately 70 kilometers west of Mogadishu.
Abdirashid Ibrahim Mohamed directs the government program to re-integrate former Al-Shabab foot soldiers and low-risk defectors from the group back into Somali society. The children will be exposed to religious teachings that guide them away from the radical views as well as psychological assistance to help them deal with the trauma they may have been exposed to during their stunt with the al Shabaab.
Ibrahim Mohamed said, “We are still investigating how long the kids, who are under 18 years old, have been in the Al-Shabab indoctrination center and how far they were radicalized. We should tell them the right way of life before they reunite with their families”.
The rehabilitation centers have been in operation for some time and intelligence reports on the ground have been maintained that individuals that go through the program successfully integrate into the community. Moreover, the program also is a platform to evaluate the former militants to determine if there are terrorists masquerading as defectors to gain inside information before the defectors are released into the society.
