Some of the children were reported to have been picked up from their communities and taken to the bushes to be trained to handle weapons against their will
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, March 14, 2025/APO Group/ --
More than 400 children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were recruited by armed actors in January and February this year, with some as young as 14 years and some reported picked up from schools and the streets and put at immediate risk of violence, said Save the Children.
Save the Children’s local partners working on child protection in North and South Kivu documented more than 400 cases of children newly associated with armed groups between January and February 2025, when violence escalated in the eastern region of the country. Some of the children were reported to have been picked up from their communities and taken to the bushes to be trained to handle weapons against their will.
Save the Children programmes provide support to children who have been released from armed groups. In 2024, the organisation assisted at least 220 children formerly associated with armed groups in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. These children receive both psychosocial and economic support to help them reintegrate into their communities. Depending on their age, some children return to school, while others receive vocational training in practical skills such as tailoring, carpentry, or mechanics, equipping them with the tools to build sustainable livelihoods.
The recruitment, use, and abduction of children in armed conflict is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime, said Save the Children. These practices expose them to extreme violence, and cause severe, long-term physical and psychological harm.
Children are often targeted for recruitment because they are cheap, easier to control and manipulate, and because they look to adults to protect them. Usually unpaid, they are used to do tasks adults do not want to do and may also be coerced into carrying out acts of violence, or have violence perpetrated onto them – for example, as girls recruited to be ‘wives’ of soldiers.
Save the Children has observed that the number of grave violations against children in the eastern DRC has increased. UNICEF has reported that grave violations have tripled since the latest escalation of violence which began on 24 January 2025 [1]. These violations include recruitment and use of children in armed groups, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and abduction.
Junior*, 17, who has been supported by Save the Children said:
“I was taken by force by a group of armed men when we were going to school with my friends, so they took us into the bush to train us to handle weapons to defend the country. We were very closely watched so that no one could leave the training area”
Greg Ramm, Save the Children’s Country Director in DRC, said:
"The situation is unacceptable, and urgent action is needed to protect the children of the DRC. We call on all parties to the conflict to take immediate measures to prevent and end these grave violations. The international community must ensure that independent human rights monitors have unrestricted access to affected areas to conduct rigorous and child-sensitive investigations and perpetrators of such acts must be held into account”.
The DRC has made progress in recent years in addressing the issue of child recruitment, including the adoption of an Action Plan in 2012 and the establishment of a Joint Technical Working Group to coordinate implementation. However, much work remains to be done to ensure the protection of children from all forms of violence.
"We urge the government of the DRC, the international community, and all stakeholders to work together to address the root causes of these violations and to ensure that children are protected from harm," said Christian Selemani*, the child protection partner.
Save the Children started working in eastern DRC in 1994, and is currently working with 13 local partners, as well as international partners and government authorities, to deliver critical health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection and education support to children and their families.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.
Why aren't our borders guarded from these scum. Put 80% of our army in the border between us and somalia and the 20% of the army left in the djabouti border. If somalis want war, we should give it to them. Also start sending those refugees home, we have accommodated them long enough. Lastly, a new Bill must be brought in declaring that all traitors to be executed as soon as they are found.
If they want to dance, we shall dance with them.
your darood father is looking for you boy !!
LOL, why don't you got to the front-line, instead of acting all brave behind a screen. Typical separatists, always bla bla bla bla
You should know, that the so called scum's are Is@@q's terrorists, who were cornered and defeated in the south. And now they going back home to their masters. The masters must be pissing in their pants.
F off us willing to share what we Dhulbahante have with our reer konfur brothers.
you thought there were alshabab in dhulbahante areas? Now look at hargeisa, you finally gave up 54suspects right infront of Morgans house
Hey Truth10, why dont you get sick with severe form of malaria like your Grandfather ina cabdille xasan waal, and shut the hell up about Isaaq, by the way, did Isaaq men rape you when you were young?
No isaaq men are killing my people. Is that sufficient for you or do you need Al jazeera/BBC to prove it for you?
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but i dont hold any grudge against REER waqoyi because people will do anything to get a Feed.
what army you have rebel yes
kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
daroods are crying because i said close the border, they are scared they will not be able to smuggle their habashi alcohol to somaliland
kabooooooooooooooon crazzy single mother stop chewing too much mirra.
TR TR
are you in labour
Somaliland Press:
Thanks for the great reporting, checked other websites and so far you have the news scoup. These terror nests should not be allowed to debase and create unstability in North, like they did in the South.
These people are Sheydaan not holy as they would like to be known.
Osman
Mind your language, this country is called The Republic of Somaliland and North, you idiot.
Have you ever heard of the phrase no matter how much you try to lie the truth comes out of your mouth in the end ?
LOOL @ country. Seems like the so called country is only in the minds of view Is@@q separatists like you. Even your last hope (Gadaburse) are abandoning you. Mate, by the time Khaatumo is fighting you and Gadaburse shouting out loud ''no to separatists'', you should have known, it's game over.
Truth10
You darood mother lied to you mate, Gadaburse are the best somalilanders and then it is the people of sool and sanaag that are next best.
I am gadaburse and my wife if dhulo so i know everything going on.
I heard puntland is going to implode very soon
Claim what you want you lying imbecile, I have enough gadaburse friends to know the real situation on the ground.
kkk alwayse the friend excuse. Well i know i am gadaburse and i know my knismen.
LOL"Gadaburse are the best somalilanders and then it is the people of sool and sanaag that are next best" more like the best Somalis, when are isaaqs going to stop this BS that reer SSC are going to support hargeisa when their sons are getting killed behind lascanod.
Shameless coward is you, rascal.
The relatives of the terrorists must have been arrested too, because they gave them support and sheltered them.
Congratulation to Somaliland's Interior Minister, Mr Duur.
Hang them all, not leave them. No room for remanding them. No room for convicting them. Any suspect must be brought to the court in letter and spirit. Let law obligation take its immediate procedure. Somaliland should not tolerate any activities or indications or intentions of terror. No mercy at all.
Well done Somaliland police force, intelligence agency and public. Continue hunting these thugs from every city and town, until we blow the whistle of all clear. Somaliland security apparatus must work hard to gather information and act swiftly. God protects us, every time our enemy tries to harm us, this wicked people were after us since we proclaimed our statehood, but Allah was always to our rescue.
so the brits were right!
The Warsangeli people of Maakhir State i think are the most confused Somalis
One day they're with Puntland the next with Sland
Ain't it funny the section of H-town, the terrorist were found, hmm. Something smells fishy. Pretend government gets to get rid of a few individuals they didn't like.
Irir Warsangeli are not with the terrorists and hate mongers in Hargeisa. We are 100 % Puntlanders and not anti-Somalis like F.A. Waraabe and the terrorists that are active in this site.
It seems the threat that Al Shabaab has issued few weeks ago and the UK, US security warnings are just coming to light . Somaliland intelligence may have failed in anticipating the current security situation after Al Shabaab have been cornered in Somalia and were forced to flee to the northern highlands . … Lessons should be learnt from these incidents . Mo
Related :
Al Shabaab vow to carry out suicide attacks inside Somaliland http://www.medeshivalley.com/2013/02/al-shabaab-v…
Folks, uptill now all that is going around is apprehending suspected terrorists but yet these
rounded up people have to be thoroughly checked for the real crimes that were committed
through the judicial legal justices. Just bcos the law and order policing their responsibilities
should convince the Somaliland peace and justice loving Nation what proved crimes were committesd
by whom? Until then, all those apprehended are innocent citizens. The human rights watch and the Media should monitor what's really happening in Somaliland but honest reporting is urged in
earnest, fair and free from vicious mischief.
Cheers.
Who is behind all the mess in Somalia ? – Can't point the finger at any one country , BUT … I think that
many young men of Somali /Somaliland origin , among them brain washed , manipulated and needy young immigrants that have crossed the high-seas and the deserts and then found themselves in the Arabian Wahabist den are causing the Mayhem , supported by radical Asians who found no place for themselves in their countries …. This is aggravated by the Ethiopians , the Kenyans and Ugandans who are used as proxies against the Somalis …..
So the warning is : Those who live in glass houses must not throw stones as the saying goes or else their glass houses will be stoned leaving their lives and glasses shattered … In other words those fairly financially well-off neighbouring countries that are playing games in Somalia and Somaliland for their own gains should know that cornering a lion has its drastic and deadly consequences …..
Mo http://www.medeshivalley.com/
like I said before there's cold war between Hargeisa and Burco, those Silaanyo and Morgan house-landers are calling alshabab are Arab Hagsoor supporters… allow Amuuraha sahal reer abtigay sanadkan way ku xuntahay LOOOL
Viva Somali Republic.
kkkkk i like your darood fantasies when will you guys turn it to a blockbuster from DAROODwood
It is amazing how some people will try to transfer and displace everything that is bad and negative to southern Somalia. Someone said in their comment that these Al-shabab terrorists and everyone from southern Somalia should be deported from the north to southern Somalia. We all know that Ahmed Cabdi Godane who is from Somaliland is the leader of Al-shabab. Many of the top ranking officers of Al-shabab and its foot soldiers are from Somaliland and Puntland. Now that this nihilist group are defeated in southern Somalia they are coming back to their homes in Somaliland and Puntland.
These terrorists are the same ones who were bombing hotels in Mogadishu like Shamow Hotel and the presidential palace in Mogadishu. If you did think that the problem of Al-shabab terrorism will be confined in southern Somalia, you are proven wrong. These terrorists are from your region. No Siree! Your are not deporting them to southern Somalia. These Al-shabab terrorists originated from the region and they seem they are back to where they belong. The proof that these terrorists are from Somaliland is that their relatives in Hargeisa are scouring the prisons in Hargeisa to know their fate and their whereabouts. Deal with your terrorists instead of blaming all your problems on southern Somalia.
Sir,
When Somaliland authorities were hunting for these thugs, your Country Somalia, welcomed them as a hero.
And if you decided not to welcome this criminals,and think they will interrupt Somaliland peace we the Somaliland people and government knows how to deal with them. We will capture them, put them in prison or kill them.
These criminals know very well they are not welcomed in Somaliland, any Somaliland enemies whether Al-shabab or other terror groups will never succeed in Somaliland.
Allemagan/Kayse.
Stop for advocating little moryaan addmin in mogadishu. no one will go under moryaanos it's not gone happen. Puntland & somaliland already have own addmin, next month Jubbaland will have one. amd probably Bay & bakool will get one in the future.
Mogadishu is safe and Hargeisa is exploding with terrorism. now you know Britain was right. dont worry syad barre nephew will be in power in 4 years time he will sort out north Somalia kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
But why would he sign the death warrant of 3 million daroods
Alshabaab members come from every corner of Somalia. What we need to be concern about is, Who's funding, who's leading this evil organization and most important of all is whose ideas was to begin with it. The two of three can be solved by Somalis but the other one is going to need collective effort from all Somalis to understand whose the opposition is. And where we are at right now, not even close and they're counting on that and have being a quite long time. Because when you’re dealing foreign elements, which their main agenda was to radicalized the Muslim world. One they have full control of it and created dependency that's beneficiary for them. They're the one that sits the head of the table, and bargaining on behalf of us. Which you can imagine, what kind of damage they can cost poor and uneducated nations heavily reliant on clan and all kind of problems. Some they created for them self. And some outside forces hand in it. Bottom line is, this is more complicated issue than all of us could wrap around our head and the solution will come when all of us understand. What we're up against and unfortunately we're not there not even close to the vicinity.
Hargaisa is war zone not safe for somalis let alone foreigners. Tourist please take your goverments advice
and leave the country or risk being caught in fire fight or alshbab hargaisa adminstaration war..
mogadisho is safer then puntland, check out the new UN report
Al-Shabaab flourished in Somalia because there was and still is no affective authority which could/can stop them. The reason why they never bothered Somaliland is because they knew the consequences that they would be hunted down by the Somaliland security services just like they are doing now. There is no room for Al-Shabaab in Somaliland as the government, the religious leaders and the people are well aware of their misguided religious believes. That alone made and is making impossible for them to have any major influence in Somaliland.
Gone are the days when people used to accuse their opponents of being Al-Shabaab in order to solicit support from some western countries. What is happening in Somaliland is exactly what happens in most countries in the world and Somaliland is vigilant just like all these countries that are protecting their people from these twisted folks.
What worries me is that Al-shabaab still retain their arms and people in Somalia and are still as capable to create mayhem in there as they were before the arrival of the African troops. They keep leaving their posts without fight and that makes any so called defeat a hallow statement.
beliefs i meant
where are the suicide bombers? There is a couple white trash folks here in Hargeisa who would like to have an early halloweed.
As Somalilanders we should be cautious and ready to defend the nation, we need to support the police and security forces in their battle against al-shaitan.
Kayse, make up your mind pleas. One day you sound like a separatists and the other day pro union. Their is only one nation.
I don't think is the same man.
M.cheers war ninyahow how many names do you need?
There's no doubt in mind the terrorist suspects hiding in Hargeisa sent by the current weak admin. in Villa Somalia. All those cowards will be caught and brought to justice sooner rather than later. I'm 100% certain that this sort of event won't be the last thus Somaliland must be vigilant at all times.. Mogadishu's lack of leadership is a cancerous spot for the entire world in which the effects have already spread primarily in the dark continent I believe it can be contained but it'll never be cured.
LOOL@ ''sent by the current weak admin''. Clearly you forgot that, 5 out of the 7 top ranking leaders of Alshabaab including the Emir is Is@@q. UCID chairman Faisal son was arrested in connection with Al-shabaab. Your Silanyo and senior Somaliland officials were threatened with exposure and charges of funding and creating Al-shabaab, and genocide against Khaatumo and Awdal, if they insist on the secession agenda. Mate your lies have catch with you.
When a criminal wants to hide, The last place he or she wants to hide is among strangers. that doesn't need whole lot of sophistication thinking but logic dictates. Because if you expose yourself people who're not familiar with you,and who have no clue why are you here and what's the reason behind. Than you most likely would land in hot water,Another word in the hands of the authorities, That would be the last place this radicalized individuals want to be.There fore that will defeated the purpose behind their agenda, Which we all know is to impose the rest of us, their wrong and twisted ideology.And if your government recognized that this people are not fit, To be roaming around your streets Scot free and they need to be detain and investigated thoroughly. than that's wise decision on their part, So just because someone is your own kind doesn't mean they wont turn against you. Especially the way this group thinks that they're doing gods work, and the struggle they engaging is superiors what anyone else can offer for them.Last but not least Alshabaab was never invited by the greater Somali population, Yes it's true some nasty so-called leaders did use this people, For their own gain to enrich them-self but were the poor Somali population are concern.. Where ever they live this evil organization force them-self in, And took over by force their cities. And who ever the leaders are I will leave to their maker, but I also believe they will be expose in this earth too. Because they have too many innocent life's blood in their hands.
Somaliland needs all its friends in times of need, I apologise for my anti-somaliland rants, but we all need to pull together at this time. I am still not in favour of Silanyo, but am willing to accept Somaliland to go their own way.