New centre to rehabilitate former child soldiers

The Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission, over the weekend, inaugurated a new child rehabilitation centre for the former child soldiers, who fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo-based rebel group, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).The new centre that currently hosts 28 ex-child soldiers will offer psycho- social support, vocational training, formal education as well as inculcate Rwandan cultural values.In their testimonies, the child ex-combatants, aged between 13 and 18, said they were forced into war activities, forced labour, looting, and military engagements by FDLR and Mai Mai rebels.“I wish all children would be rescued. They live in fear. We were taught to live by the gun, we used to sleep in the bush,” recalled Kapeti Nzayikorera, 18, who escaped last month. “I was forced to join the insurgency at the age of 13 and over the years, I tried to escape and return home. It’s a nightmare to find a way out.” The inauguration ceremony was preceded by a soccer match between the former child soldiers and a team of students from local secondary schools as part of their reintegration into society.The Chairman of the RDRC, Jean Sayinzoga, said the government has a major task to help the youngsters to attain values, discipline and life skills after they were born and bred in the bush.The child soldiers, many of whom don’t know the whereabouts of their parents, having separated from them in the course of the long protracted war, speak Congolese native dialects like Linga-ala, Swahili, and Kindandi.The RDRC supports them to trace their parents or relatives during the course of the three month training programme they undergo at the centre.“Rwandans have a big responsibility to help these children gain hope and vision. They were subjected to dehumanising activities right from childhood and were taught a bad ideology which we have to change,” Sayinzoga stated.According to Sayinzoga, the rehabilitation programme was shifted from Muhazi child rehabilitation centre in Rwamagana to be closer to Mutobo demobilisation centre for visitation purposes.FDLR is mainly composed of elements responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.‘’When I escaped from FDLR, I landed into the hands of Mai-Mai militia. I served there for two years. My life has been terrible living on stolen food and clothes. I knew I would return to my country one day,” said Sylvin Rukundo, 18, who completed a construction course from Muhazi child rehabilitation centre.Recent internal divisions within the top command of FDLR have significantly weakened the group, forcing hundreds of fighters to lay down their weapons.Militia groups operating in the eastern part of DR Congo have been accused of using child soldiers for military and other activities. The RDRC, under its reintegration programme, supports ex-combatants as they strive for economic self sustenance and prosperity in a wider framework of poverty reduction and national development.Rwanda has won widespread accolades for its efforts in rehabilitating and reintegrating child soldiers returning from the FDLR rebel ranks back into their communities.Rwanda’s success story is now used as the blueprint for an ambitious and high profile United Nations Security Council campaign to name and shame groups that recruit and use child soldiers.The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said in a statement sent to The New Times last week that she had personally witnessed the effect of this process.

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New centre to rehabilitate former child soldiers