Africa: S - Z

National law provided for 17-year-olds to enlist voluntarily in the armed forces, but it was not known how many were serving.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces. No recent information on the use of child soldiers by an armed group was available.

No information was available on the presence of under-18s in the armed forces. Volunteers could be recruited under the age of 18 with parental consent.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces. Children were allegedly recruited in Sierra Leone by Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to fight in Liberia in July 2005. The trial of the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of international law committed in Sierra Leone, including the recruitment and use in hostilities of child soldiers under the age of 15, began in June 2007 before the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The same month the Special Court convicted three former commanders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) of recruitment and use in hostilities of children under 15; in August it convicted a leader of the pro-government Civil Defence Forces (CDF) of the same charge.

The recruitment and use of child soldiers significantly increased, with thousands of child soldiers involved in all parties to hostilities which escalated in 2006. Intense fighting resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths and injuries, among them many children, and massive displacement.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces. Large numbers of under-18s were members of criminal gangs.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces although their presence could not be ruled out as defence force regulations permitted recruitment under some circumstances. No recruitment of child soldiers from Burundian refugee camps was reported after September 2004.

There were no reports of under-18s in the regular armed forces. The extent to which any under-18s may have participated in the violence around the 2005 presidential elections was not documented.

Up to 2,000 women and children remained with the opposition Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in October 2007. They included girl soldiers who had been raped and borne children while in the ranks. Children were abducted and used by the LRA in combat and other roles and forced to commit and witness human rights abuses. Fighting and LRA abuses had significantly decreased by early 2006. Children were recruited and used by the national army, the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), and auxiliary Local Defence Units (LDU). Children captured by the UPDF were used for gathering intelligence on the LRA and to identify LRA positions and weapons caches.

Under-18s could be serving in the armed forces, given the low rate of birth registration and the possibility for 16-year-olds to enlist with parental permission.

The national youth training program, which included paramilitary training of children, continued in 2007. Youth militias were involved in human rights violations against opposition supporters.