Child Soldiers
There were many child soldiers in the RUF; a total of 10,000 are thought to have participated in the conflict. Most were used for attacks on villages and on guard duty at diamond fields as well as guarding weapons stockpiles. Today, about 2000 are still left serving in the military of Sierra Leone.The RUF made extensive use of child soldiers, using horrific methods to numb their new recruits to barbarity. Thousands of abducted boys and girls were forced to serve as soldiers or as prostitutes, and those chosen to be fighters were sometimes forced to murder their parents. Guerrillas frequently carved the initials "RUF" on their chests, and officers reportedly rubbed cocaine into open cuts on their troops to make them maniacal and fearless.
For entertainment, some soldiers would bet on the sex of an unborn baby and then slice open a woman's womb to determine the winner. The RUF abducted children aged 7 to 12, but were known to take children as young as 5 years old. The children were notoriously known by captains and civilians for their unquestionable obedience and enormous cruelty.
Read more about this topic: Revolutionary United Front
Famous quotes containing the words child and/or soldiers:
“There are only two things a child will share willingly—communicable diseases and his mother’s age.”
—Benjamin Spock (b. 1903)
“We, the soldiers who have returned from battles stained with blood; we who have seen our relatives and friends killed before our eyes; we who have attended their funerals and cannot look in the eyes of their parents; we who have come from a land where parents bury their children; we who have fought against you, the Palestinians—we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice: enough of blood and tears. Enough.”
—Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995)