Terrorists in Mozambique are recruiting child soldiers and trafficking women, says OMR
By Jorge Joaquim
Insurgents are kidnapping children, turning them into child soldiers and trafficking women abroad, according to Mozambican NGO Observatory of the Rural World (OMR), based on testimonies from 23 women who escaped their kidnappers.
It says that hundreds of women have been kidnapped and brainwashed, and that the most attractive girls then announce that they have been selected to go and study in Tanzania. In fact, they are moved through trafficking networks that extend into Europe and the Persian Gulf.
The women report seeing children doing military training, some of which have been training for two to three years. One 14-year-old boy is reported as saying that he was happy with his first murder and decapitation.
The insurgents are far more organised than what the media reports, says the study, adding that there are communications specialists, nurses and mechanics, as well as dedicated soldiers.
The insurgency is recruiting people opposed to the state, the report says, arguing that the misbehaviour of government forces and poor treatment of refugees is creating a cycle of violence.
It calls for greater international cooperation to control the border, share information and investigate the insurgents, as well as economic support for the refugees.
