Rwandan child soldiers return

2004-03-09 09:50

Ruhengeri, Rwanda - The last time Jean-Paul, who is 14 but looks 10, was in his native Rwanda, it was 1994 and his world was in total, bloody, chaos.

The decade that followed was hardly any kinder to him.

Now he is in a reception centre in the northwestern town of Ruhengeri with about 100 other former child soldiers recently returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), learning how to adjust to civilian life in Rwanda.

Several such centres have been set up in Rwanda for children aged between 11 and 18 who fled the country during the 1994 genocide, when up to a million people were slaughtered in a government-orchestrated attempt to eradicate the Tutsi minority.

Some learn songs about the glory of Rwandan unity, others try the steps of traditional dances.

"We are teaching them patriotism through these songs, dances and poems," explained Claudine Mukasensiyo, a teacher at the Ruhengeri centre, which opened last week.

Smiles

Until now, the children, who are starting to find their smiles again, were mixed up with adult former soldiers at a demobilisation camp.

Many former child soldiers have now returned from the DRC as a result of efforts by the UN military mission there and by the leaders of their various armed groups.

"This is the fist time that such a large group of child soldiers from the DRC has been repatriated," enthused Ali Mugema, who also works at the centre.

Just a few months ago, Jean-Paul was living in a DRC forest carrying a weapon that was taller than him.

"They taught me how to use it and I fired it, but I never knew if I managed to kill any of the enemy," he said.

In 2000, having lost his parents during fighting in DRC, Jean-Paul joined a band of Mai-Mai, the generic name for armed groups mostly loyal to Kinshasa in its war against rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda.

"It was very hard. I had to fight to survive but I didn't even know who I was fighting," he recalled with lowered eyes.

"At least the Mai-Mai gave us work. The treated us like soldiers, not like children," he added with pride.

Thanks to the Red Cross, which tries to reunite families separated by war, Jean-Paul got back in touch with his relatives and is due to rejoin them once his rehabilitation course is over, on April 8, the day after the official commemoration of the genocide.

Ayme, 16, is not so lucky. Having had no word from his family, he is likely to stay on at the centre.

Despite being so young, he is still haunted by images of the killing in 1994.

"I saw people being killed, but I didn't really understand what was going on," he said.

Before he was separated from his parents he asked them why they did not return to Rwanda.

"They told me that some of us had taken part in the genocide and that the Tutsis who took power might take revenge if we went back," he added.

"But now I am here, I want to go back to school," he said.

- AFP