Child abductions raise alarm in Cabo Delgado
Restive gas-rich Cabo Delgado in the country's north has seen a rise in the kidnapping of children
Kiri Rupiah and Luis Nhachote
Islamic State Mozambique Province, an arm of al-Shabaab, is increasingly kidnapping children in northern Mozambique, Human Rights Watch reports.
In interviews with nine people, including journalists, civil society activists and a United Nations official in restive gas-rich Cabo Delgado, the watchdog body learned of multiple recent child abductions.
Four boys and three girls taken from Mumu; six from Chibau; one from Ntotwe; and eight near Magaia village, among other incidents between January and May. One local activist said that “120 or more children have been abducted” across the Cabo Delgado province recently.
The fighters conscript the abducted boys into military roles ranging from transporting goods to surveillance and active combat, and force the girls into sex slavery.
The UN Children’s Fund says kidnappings have been rising since 2017 in Cabo Delgado. But official response has fallen short of the urgency and seriousness the issue needs, analysts say.
“As with so many things about this conflict, the government demonstrates an entrenched reticence,” Crisis Group’s Piers Pigou told The Continent. “I have not seen any specific programming around children press-ganged into insurgent activities.”
Child conscription, an international war crime, is not a novel practice in Mozambique. In the post-independence civil war (1977-1992), between 8,000 and 10,000 children were forced into the conflict as soldiers.
In Cabo Delgado, at least 117 schools have closed, particularly in the districts of Macomia and Quissanga. Those still open are overcrowded. “It’s real chaos,” Adao Saranga, a teacher in Quissanga, told The Continent. “The classrooms are full with local pupils and children from displaced families.”
The rise in child abductions is part of a surge in attacks by Islamic State-linked insurgents, which analysts say is tied to recent losses in Somalia. With less funding coming in, the group has turned to looting, extortion, and now, recruiting child soldiers