Congo child soldiers say they forced to fight, kill

By Hereward Holland

GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Snatched from their homes by armed men who force them to carry ammunition, fight and kill, beaten if they refuse, east Congo's child soldiers are teenage victims of an unforgiving war.

Child protection agencies report a surge in recruitment of under-18 soldiers by warring factions in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern North Kivu province, where increased fighting since August has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Safe now in a transit camp run by the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, former teenage fighters tell of being kidnapped from their homes to swell the ranks of armed groups as porters, cooks, cleaners and even frontline troops.

To protect them from reprisals, the ex-child soldiers are given assumed names and are not allowed to say who recruited them, whether the rebel or militia groups or the government army which make up the warring parties in violence-torn east Congo.

"I was recruited last month and managed to escape only recently," said "Stewart," 16, speaking in the UNICEF camp, which was decorated with murals advocating children's rights.

He told his story on the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

"I was at home when some troops passed by and asked me to be a porter. I was thinking that if I went with them they would let me go and I could go home but they wouldn't let me. When I arrived at the camp they told me I would be a soldier," he said.

Although he was given training in how to shoot, "Stewart" did not stay with the group long enough to go into combat.

"I mostly carried ammunition. I was always tired but if I told them I was tired, they would beat me with sticks," he said. "I saw many people kidnapped in schools and in markets, all over. If you tried to escape, they would kill you," he added.

George Graham, spokesman in Goma for Save the Children, said that even before the upsurge in violence in North Kivu, some 3,000 children were fighting in armed groups in Congo.

"Since then, there have been many reports of forced recruitment of children ... there's been a surge," he said.

"I SHOT SOMEBODY"

"Peter," also 16, who said his parents were killed by Congolese Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, was kidnapped by "people with guns" while collecting firewood.

"I spent six months with them, mostly cooking and cleaning, but on one occasion I was forced to fight. I shot somebody and it made me very upset. They forced me to," he said. Discipline for the child soldiers was invariably enforced by savage beatings or harsh punishments.

"Peter" said he was punished for once refusing to go into combat. "They beat me across the arms with a pole 100 times."