XINHUA — Somalia is seeking urgent actions to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers in armed conflicts in the Horn of Africa.

According to a joint statement issued in Mogadishu on Sunday after a five-day meeting of key representatives from the government and federal member states, recruitment and use of children is a key security concern and has the potential to undermine efforts aimed at bringing lasting peace to Somalia.

African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)’s Child Protection Adviser Musa Gbow stressed the importance of coming up with a roadmap that will be translated into a policy document and implemented at both the federal and regional levels.

“Our aim is to have a smooth transitional exit strategy, but we cannot just leave vacuum. We have to ensure that the federal government and federal member states continue to work together especially with regards to dealing with the prevention of the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in the conflict in Somalia,” Gbow said.

Various international instruments across the globe criminalize the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.
Available statistics also show that 70 percent of the children in armed conflict in Somalia are recruited by Al-Shabaab terror group.

During the forum, organized by AMISOM, participants discussed how to prevent the recruitment of and use of children in armed conflicts.

The forum provided an avenue for various government departments including the security sector to interface alongside AMISOM military, in coming up with tangible solutions to the problem.

Deputy Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (DSRCC) Simon Mulongo said the AU mission is addressing the issue of use of child soldiers in armed conflicts as part of its transitional arrangements.

“That is as we transit from activities being managed and overseen by AMISOM, we would like to prepare the Somali people to manage these programs by themselves,” Mulongo said.

According to a UN Security Council Report on Children and Armed Conflict in Somalia published in January, 5,933 boys and 230 girls were recruited as child soldiers between April 1, 2010 and July 1, 2016.

Statistics show an improvement between 2012 and 2014, but the figures sharply rose in 2016, when 1,092 children were used as child soldiers in the first six months.

Hawk-eyed guards at Mandera prison on September 14 spotted a man squeezing through a small opening at the perimeter wall then moved swiftly and arrested him.

Two months later, after rigorous interrogation and an intense legal process, the court in the north eastern town established that he was an Al-Shabaab spy sent to survey the local police station, prison and military camp ahead of an impending terrorist attack.
Abdirahman Abdi Takow was jailed for 30 years by the court on Wednesday last week.

BIGGER PLOT

In court, Takow remained defiant and refused to divulge the bigger plot by Al-Shabaab forcing Kenyan security agencies to be on high alert to protect citizens from the Somali-based terrorist organisation, a partner of Al-Qaeda.
The terrorist, who travelled from Mogadishu for the espionage mission three days prior to his arrest, also refused to reveal the identity of an accomplice who outran the prison guards and disappeared into thickets while he was arrested.

Mr Hussein Osman Mursal, a prison officer, was on the watchtower when he spotted two men moving close to the stone wall that secured the penal institution.

One of the men squeezed through a small opening which had been drilled by masons contracted to carry out repairs at the facility while the other stayed outside, apparently to keep watch.

The accomplice ran across a field in an adjacent school, disappeared in thickets and is still at large.

Mr Mursal gave his account in court.

PRISON CAMP

Takow, upon arrest, claimed he was at the correctional facility to report that he had been conned Sh30,000 and needed help from authorities, a claim that the court quashed.

“I find the evidence is not denied, rebutted or contravened in any manner. The same is overwhelming against the accused who has not given any reason why he came all the way from Mogadishu and entered the prison camp,” said Mandera senior resident magistrate Peter Areri.

In court, Mt Mursal said: “I was at the watch tower when I saw the accused person enter the prison through an opening that construction workers were using while working on the perimeter wall.”

He was the first prosecution witness.

The prison officer also told the court that the accomplice escaped.

“The second person who kept peeping in took off while I walked in his direction. He ran through Mandera DEB Primary School compound,” he said.

Prison authorities handed over Takow to Anti-Terrorrist Police Unit (ATPU) after he failed to explain his presence in the facility.

AL-SHABAAB CAPITAL

A special interrogation team was formed and comprised ATPU, Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence.

It established that Takow was born in Mogadishu 22 years ago and worked as a mechanic at Yarshit, the current capital of Al-Shabaab in war-torn Somalia.

The detectives also tracked his way from there to Kenya.

He came through Bulahawa, a town near the Kenya – Somalia border that at the time was controlled by Somalia National Army, an ally of Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia.

“He came to Bulahawa a few days before Somalia National Army camp at Bulahawa was overrun early morning of September 11, 2017,” according to a second witness in court.

An anti-terror police officer told the court that the interrogation team concluded that the accused was an Shabaab spy sent to gather information on Prison, Police Stations and the Military Camp in Mandera town.

Sunday Nation did not to name the ATPU officer due to the sensitivity of his duties and also because he is stationed in an area prone to attacks against government officials have taken place in recent past.

The officer, as witness two, said in court: “A multi-agency interrogation team concluded that the accused was an Amniyat dispatched to Mandera to gather information.”

Amniyat is Al-Shabaab’s intelligence wing.

ATTACK

The officer further told the court that the terrorist also planned attacks at county offices and the county referral hospital.

Witness two also connected the foiled Al-Shabaab plan to another attack in Somalia.

Three days before the arrest, Shabaab overran an Somali National Army camp in Bulahawa, not far from the border.

“After a successful attack by Al-Shabaab on Somali National Army camp at Bulahawa on September 11, we received intelligence that their intelligence group members were in Mandera before the accused was arrested,” he said.

In court, the officer said the accused spent the night in Bulahawa before crossing into Mandera.

After crossing over, in the morning of September 14, the terrorist was spotted at Mandera Police Station before he was later apprehended at the prison.

Takow was among groups of people who had converged at the station to escort relatives who were travelling.

It is commonplace for travellers to be screened at the station since terrorists from Somalia pose as passengers travelling to Nairobi and other parts of Kenya.

SENDS SPIES

Magistrate Peter Areri wondered why the terrorist did not report the alleged conning of Sh30,000 to police when he was at the police station, but later sneaked into the prison which is kilometres way.

Amniyat sends spies to gather information ahead of an attack.

“We had intelligence that a Shabaab spy had been dispatched to Mandera immediately after the attack at Bulahawa. He was to collect information on police stations, military camp, prison, county offices and county referral hospital,” the ATPU officer said in court.

In Bulahawa, 15 Somali National army soldiers and scores of civilians were killed and many others injured.

“That attack was to clear the way for the planned attack on our side and this accused was to report back immediately for action within a week’s time,” the witness told the court.

Several Mandera locals shown a picture of the accused denied knowing him but an elderly man identified the accused from the photograph as a descendant of interior Somalia from his physique.

On defence at the law court, the accused maintained that he did not know Al-Shabaab.

“I am not one of those people and I don’t associate with those people.

I am a refugee,” said Takow in defence.

But Mr Areri while sentencing him, said Takow did not deny evidence given in court.

The magistrate said the fact that the accused had been at the police station and then went to the prison camp leads to a conclusion that he was surveying the camps for an intended terrorism attack.

“He was collecting information to facilitate the terrorist attacks. I find him guilty as charged and sentence the accused to 30 years imprisonment,” ruled Mr Areri.

Following months of political drama, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will be sworn in for his second term in office tomorrow, November 28. Citing procedural failures, the Kenyan Supreme Court nullified results from the first round of presidential elections in August, a decision hailed as a sign of Kenya’s growing democratic maturity. The narrative changed, however, when opposition leader Raila Odinga boycotted the subsequent election by announcing the withdrawal of his candidacy. Kenyatta won the second-round election with 98 percent of the vote amid low turnout and threats to the judiciary and civil society. Kenya now stands at a precarious juncture, with the possibility of a deep political rift further fragmenting the country.

What makes Kenya’s backsliding particularly worrisome is that it’s part of a disturbing regional trend. Democratic progress across Africa has been mixed—Central Africa has always struggled, but in East and West Africa, there have been important gains in recent years. Although West Africa appears to be consolidating those gains, East Africa is in the midst of a democratic decline that is reversible in its early stages but threatens to gather momentum.

Political and media space in parts of East Africa is closing as presidents and prime ministers flaunt their security credentials. Several leaders, such as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, are altering their constitutions in order to prolong already lengthy terms in office. No country in East Africa is rated “free” in U.S. non-governmental organization (NGO) Freedom House’s most recent rankings, and only two are deemed “partly free.” Many are in fact electoral authoritarian regimes that superficially adhere to democratic rules of the game but in reality employ authoritarian tactics. There is little precedent for change through the ballot box: outside of Somalia, no leader in East Africa has ever left office by losing an election.

AUTHORITARIANISM’S RISE

The democratic decline is gripping a region of genuine strategic importance. East Africa can be an engine of continental economic growth, has made important gains in regional economic integration, and is rich in natural resources, including substantial oil and gas reserves. Extremist groups affiliated with both al Qaeda and the Islamic State (or ISIS) are active in Somalia and occasionally cross into neighboring countries. The United States’ largest military presence in Africa is in Djibouti, with China and several other countries operating military bases nearby. Tiny, authoritarian Eritrea is the top African source of active asylum seekers in Libya. The region borders the Red Sea, a key part of maritime trade routes between Europe and Asia.

The region’s retreat from democracy threatens all these interests. Its strongman leaders may offer short-term stability, but their authoritarian practices and resistance to building democratic institutions weaken the underpinnings of the state and make the inevitable leadership transitions more likely to be volatile. As seen in Somalia, failed governance and weak state structures create conditions in which extremists thrive. Inconsistent rule of law and tolerance for corruption make for a less desirable destination for foreign investment.