To counter Al-Shabaab lifeline, the new government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud must act and stem down the increasing involvement of children (under-age) into terrorism activities from across the regions of Somalia. The newly sworn in President of Somalia is faced by myriad of challenges ranging from devastating drought that may push millions of Somalis to famine, deep political divisions within federal government and within state agencies.
Besides these notable challenges, the biggest task that need to be tackled decisively is the steady rising of Al-Shabaab insurgency and attacks in Somalia. The Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab continue to record several attacks monthly on government, security and civilian targets.
Confronting the rising Al-Shabaab insurgency will be key for President Mohamud’s new administration that will require a multifaceted approach to stem down the militant group budding.
Intelligence assets have warned of the fact that Al-Shabaab continues to use children in a number of its activity though not on large scale. Al-Shabaab is known to use under-age boys as spies, logistics operatives and, in worse still as combatants and as suicide bombers. On the other hand, the Islamist militant group has been found to use under-age girls as cooks, cleaners, and “wives” as well as to spy or move weaponry.
The use of children by the Islamist militant group in Somalia is a war crime that need to be tackled head-on to save thousands of children who are forcibly subjected to myriad forms of abuse and, in some instances being killed. But it will also be essential to combating the Al-Shabaab threat as a whole that prompts these children to joining the terrorism camps.
Al-Shabaab forcibly continue to recruit children and young people under the age of 15. They militant group pretend to engage children in various religious education especially reciting of Quran verses and gifting them in calculated move to woo more within their folds. Al-Shabaab usually gets its way as its use threats and intimidation to the locals within their areas of operations/control.
Al-Shabaab has forcibly enlisted thousands of young people against their and their families’ wills, but sometimes recruitment is more complicated. In some cases, desperate families in poverty volunteer their children as a last resort in return for money and support from the militants. The militant group portrays itself as an alternative government and failure to heed their call results mostly to death by execution in public squares.
Al-Shabaab seems to have mastered the art of exploiting the Somali people by pretending to care about their plight more than the government. Many times the militant group is seen distributing food to the people affected by drought. Trust in the government and its security institutions are low, and not helped by the courts’ failure to deliver justice for victims of abusive security forces and this where the militant group exploits the vulnerability of Somali people and subsequently asks for their children to join certain causes.
During celebrations of Eid Fitr, Al-Shabaab exploits these celebrations to woo young people and gifting children with toy guns in an effort to make admire the militancy life. In the face of this, Al-Shabaab cannily lures young recruits with the promise of money, marriage, and power. Most of Al-Shabaab’s child recruits are from areas the group holds or has a significant presence in. But it is notable that its level of recruitment in big cities like the capital Mogadishu is reportedly increasing.
Once recruited or forcibly recruited in the terror camps Al-Shabaab uses vulnerable children for a variety of combat and non-combat operations. The Islamist militants benefit from the fact that young people are likely to attract less suspicion among security services and may be more susceptible to the group’s violent ideology.
To stem down the rising trend of children being recruited into Al-Shabaab terrorist camps, Somalia government need to come with urgent deradicalization programmes to stem down the rate at which the under-age children are getting into Al-Shabaab trap.
President Mohamud’s government need to intensify media campaigns, for instance, aimed at winning young militants back or dissuading those who might be tempted to join Al-Shabaab camps. Similar campaigns have been tried before largely focusing on the evils of the terrorist groups rather than the needs of the children, however, they have made little impact since the populous are face by poverty that in turn makes them vulnerable to Al-Shabaab.
