Sierra Leone and Girl Soldiers: Growing up in the RUF

I have begun to reflect on the subject beyond Ongwen, identifying a whole range of persons that have grown up inside rebel groups - what chance of reintegration? are the usual reintegration mechanisms (DDRR) of assistance packages and some rehab useful? Consider the following excerpt from Miriam Denov's piece in Security Dialogue ('Wartime Sexual Violence', 2006: 37) where she presents findings of interviews with three girls, I extract those passages relevant to one girl who fits the complex political perpetrator case here:

"Kadiatu reported being abducted by the RUF at a very early age (possibly age 4) and remembers nothing of her biological family. Raised within the ranks of the RUF by a commander and his wife, the RUF had been the only family she had ever known:

I grew up with the RUF and all I knew was the RUF. . . . As a very young girl, I helped with domestic work. . . . Later on, I was recruited to go into combat and became very involved in fighting. I was about ten years old when I became part of the fighting forces. The RUF believed that once a girl had attained puberty and started having sex, she was physically mature enough to become a soldier. After I was raped, I was recruited into the forces.

....In the aftermath of conflict, with no family or community ties outside of the RUF, Kadiatu’s sense of insecurity remained and, in some ways, heightened. Highly conscious of the ongoing risk of sexual violence should she return to live with her RUF ‘family’, she felt she had no choice but to live on the streets of Freetown (pp. 334-35).

....Kadiatu was able to benefit from DDR, particularly education and skills training. However, according to the girls, not only did DDR programming neglect to specifically address the after-effects of the sexual violence they experienced, it in fact appeared to perpetuate the problem. Kadiatu’s experiences show that DDR camps can be perilous and insecure places for girls, where overcrowding and the weak application of the rule of law often expose girls to ongoing sexual violence and insecurity:

The [DDR] camp became chaotic and disorganized . . . there was no order. . . . The [camp]officers who were on night duty couldn’t control the boys [ex- combatants]. The boys were coming over to [the girls] and harassing us for sex. I never felt safe. The reality of sexual violence impelled Kadiatu to leave the DDR programme,even if the alternative meant living on the streets of Freetown.

In regards to the [Truth Commission] and the [Special Court], the three girls expressed their apprehension with both processes. In the case of the SLTRC, none of the girls felt that the commission would be beneficial or empowering to them personally, nor were they willing to testify at the proceedings:

Would I go to the TRC? No! It doesn’t mean anything to me and won’t benefit me. . . . I certainly wouldn’t provide a statement. I don’t want people to know I was with the rebels. (Maria)

.... In particular, the girls expressed great concern that they would be prosecuted by the [Court] as a result of their former affiliation with the RUF. Instead of the Court providing a sense of protection or empowerment, girls felt a sense of apprehension and fear:

I fear the Special Court. The DDR programmers took our pictures and put them in the computer and we were given a card. I’m fearful that the government will take all the names in the computer and say: ‘let’s get rid of them all’. I’m afraid that they will put us in prison..."

The article continues to describe the social, economic and community marginalization of the girls, viewed as impure, dirty and guilty. There is no discussion of culpability while in the RUF, but its an interesting piece on the limbo these girls are currently in.

Well, I will continue to think through these issues, but wanted to share this with you for now.