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Child Soldiers and Deaths Surge in Mali as Violence Worsens

Reuters

   DAKAR - The number of children forced to join armed groups in Mali has
   doubled since last year amid worsening jihadist and ethnic violence,
   the United Nations said Tuesday.

   In the first six months of 2019, the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF,
   recorded 99 cases of children in Mali being recruited or used by armed
   groups, often as soldiers, spies, cooks or cleaners, compared to 47 in
   the same period last year.

   "This is very much a reflection of the deteriorating security
   situation, in particular in the center of Mali," UNICEF spokeswoman
   Eliane Luthi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

   The West African country has been in conflict since 2012 when Islamists
   hijacked an ethnic uprising by Tuaregs in the north. More recently the
   violence has moved to central Mali, where fighting between farmers and
   herders has surged this year.

   The number of children in Mali who were killed or maimed in conflict
   almost quadrupled to 229 in the first half of 2019, up from 59 in the
   same period last year, UNICEF said.

   Fulani herders and Dogon farmers have long competed for land and
   resources in Mali, but jihadist groups have exploited their ethnic
   rivalry to boost recruitment and expand their reach.

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