A group in northern Mozambique, affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), is reportedly abducting young boys and deploying them in violent confrontations against government forces. This allegation is made by international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), charging this armed group with a violation of the prohibition on the use of child soldiers, a practice internationally recognised as inhumane and unlawful.
Known as Al-Shabab, the militants distinct from the Somalia’s Al-Shaabab, are supposedly enlisting boys as young as 13 to carry out raids and looting operations, like the one that took place in Makomiya during mid-May. The said town was held hostage by the armed group for 24 hours; during which they wound up killing ten people, mainly soldiers, and obstructing the principal road.
Individual testimonies by local inhabitants and two aid workers affirm the presence of children within the ranks of the militants. Perhaps more disturbing is that majority of these militants were reportedly minors and young adults who spoke local dialects, gathered from interactions by parents, survivors, and witnesses interviewed by HRW in 2021. Al-Shabab is reported to be abducting these boys, initiating them with militaristic training, religious education, and instructions on village attacks.
Such recruitment and engagement of children for armed combat are outright contraventions of the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This specific UN instrument proscribes engagement of children under the age of 18 for military purposes by non-state armed groups.
This hazardous scenario is an element of the larger Islamist uprising in Mozambique, steered by jihadist groups including Ahlu al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah (ASJ), Ansar al-Sunnah, ISIS–Mozambique and al-Shabab. Their collective aim is to effectuate the transformation of the country into an Islamic state under Sharia law. Originating from an attack on police stations in 2017 which led to several deaths and abductions, the conflict has since intensify, and continues to pose a persistent menace in the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique.