Colombian Mercenaries Support Rebel Unit in Sudan

 The Associated Press published on 30 July 2026 an article titled "Child Soldiers Recount Horrors of Sudan's War and Presence of Colombian Mercenaries" by Sam Mednick, Isabel Debre, and Astrid Suarez.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have conscripted child soldiers, some of whom have been trained by Colombian mercenaries.  The UAE allegedly recruited the Colombians to fight alongside the RSF.

Ethiopia: Human Rights Violations by All Sides

 UN News published on 13 September 2021 an article titled "Multiple Reports of Alleged Human Rights Violations in Tigray."

UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, deplored "multiple and severe reports of alleged gross violations of human rights, humanitarian and refugee law" committed by all parties to the conflict in Tigray.

Local Violence Engulfs South Sudan

 UN News published on 19 February 2021 a summary of a new UN Human Rights Commission report on violence in South Sudan.  

The UN Human Rights Council-appointed investigators said the bloodshed faced by civilians in South Sudan is the worst recorded since the country's civil war began in December 2013.  Most of the violence is occurring at the local level.  The Commission members described the situation as shocking.  

Corruption Runs Deep in South Sudan

The Sentry published a detailed report in September 2019 titled "The Taking of South Sudan: The Tycoons, Brokers, and Multinational Corporations Complicit in Hijacking the World's Newest State."

South Sudanese politicians and military officers ravaging the world's newest nation received support from individuals and corporations from across the world who have reaped profits from those dealings. This report examines several illustrative examples of international actors linked to violence and grand corruption in order to demonstrate the extent to which external actors have been complicit in the taking of South Sudan. One of the complicit companies is Dar Petroleum. Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and Malaysian state-owned Petronas hold 41 percent and 40 percent stakes respectively in the consortium.

Sudanese Troops Fight for UAE and Saudi Arabia in Yemen

The New York Times published on 28 December 2018 an article titled "On the Front Line of the Saudi War in Yemen? Child Soldiers from Darfur" by David Kirkpatrick.

Over the past 4 years as many as 14,000 Sudanese soldiers at any given time have been fighting in Yemen under the direction of the UAE. Many are effectively mercenaries and veterans of the conflict in Darfur.

Photo Journalist Account of Child Soldiers in South Sudan

The Pulitzer Center published on 30 October 2018 a photo journalist account titled "Child Soldiers of South Sudan" by Andreea Campeanu.

The article documents a group of child soldiers among 900 released from the armed forces in South Sudan in 2018. About 19,000 child soldiers are still serving in armed forces across South Sudan.

Child Soldier Escapes Al-Shabaab

The Pulitzer Center published on 28 July 2018 a story titled "Surviving al-Shabab: The Boy Who Escaped the World's Most Ruthless Terror Group" by Hassan Ghedi Santur, a Somali-Canadian journalist based in Nairobi.

This is the account of a Somali boy who joined al-Shabaab at age nine and who subsequently escaped. Now sixteen, he is trying to rebuild his life.

The Resurgence of Al-Shabaab

The Terrorism Monitor published on 8 February 2018 an analysis titled "The Resurgence of Al-Shabaab" by Sunguta West.

The author argues that the resurgence of al-Shabaab attacks in Somalia pours cold water on predictions of al-Shabaab's possible defeat, prompting security experts to call for new strategies to combat the militant group.

Child Soldiers in Somalia

Human Rights Watch published on 21 February 2018 a report titled "'It's Like We're Always in a Prison' Abuses Against Boys Accused of National Security Offenses in Somalia."

The report, based on interviews with 15 Somali child soldiers abducted by al-Shabaab and subsequently captured by Puntland authorities, documents abuses the children suffered after capture by Puntland authorities.

Somalia: Al-Shabaab Demanding Children

Human Rights Watch published on 14 January 2018 an account titled "Somalia: Al-Shabab Demanding Children." It reports on al-Shabaab's program that forces communities to hand over their children for indoctrination and military training.

South Sudan: The Children's War

The Washington Post published on 10 November 2017 an article titled "They Were Rescued from War. Now South Sudan's Child Soldiers Are Going Back" by Kevin Sieff. The focus of the article is child soldiers in South Sudan.

Trafficking in Persons: East Africa and the Horn

The U.S. Department of State has just released the 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report. It ranks countries into 4 Tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watchlist, and Tier 3. No country in East Africa and the Horn was included in Tier 1.

Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are in Tier 2: do not fully comply with Trafficking Victims Protection Act's (TVPA) minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with these standards.

Djibouti is on the Tier 2 Watchlist: same as above but is delinquent in several respects.

Eritrea, South Sudan, and Sudan are in Tier 3: governments do not fully comply with the TVPA's minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

Somalia is a special case.

Child Soldiers in South Sudan

The Washington Post published on 13 November 2015 a story titled "South Sudan Thought It Solved Its Child Soldier Problem.  It Hasn't" by Kevin Sieff.  The article notes that the government of South Sudan and rebel groups have recruited an estimated 16,000 child soldiers since civil war broke out in December 2013. 

UN Monitoring Group Report on Somalia and Eritrea

The approved 330 page report of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea has been released. It is my understanding that it does not differ significantly from at least two previously leaked versions of the report. The coordinator of the report was Canadian national Matt Bryden. He does not intend to coordinate the next report.

Based on the earlier leaked reports, the international press focused on two issues: massive corruption in the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the fact that Eritrea has significantly reduced its support for al-Shabaab.

For coverage of Eritrea's reduced support for al-Shabaab, click here to read Aaron Maasho's report in Reuters. For coverage of corruption in the TFG, click here to read Jason Straziuso's account in the Associated Press and click here to read the TFG's response as reported by the BBC.

If you are up to all 330 pages of the UN report, click here. It contains a wealth of information.

Joseph Kony and the LRA

Human Rights Watch published an excellent basic analysis of the threat posed by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 21 March 2012. In question and answer format, it deals with the key issues posed by the LRA. You can access the document here.

Somalia: Child Soldiers and Al-Shabaab

Human Rights Watch released in February 2012 a lengthy and devastating report on abuses by al-Shabaab with a focus on recruitment of children. Titled No Place for Children: Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia, the report documents al-Shabaab's targeting of children for recruitment as soldiers, forced marriage, and rape.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 164 newly arrived Somali refugees in the Dadaab refugee camps along the Kenya-Somalia border and in Nairobi in May and June 2011. Interviewees included more than 81 girls and boys who were under the age of 18. Human Rights Watch also interviewed Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) officials and personnel with the United Nations, African Union, diplomatic community and non-governmental organizations.

According to Human Rights Watch, al-Shabaab militants send children to the front lines, often with little training. Several witnesses spoke of children serving effectively as human shields for more experienced fighters during some of the most intense fighting in Mogadishu.

While the available information suggests that the TFG itself does not forcibly recruit children, they have found their way into its ranks, often by volunteering for TFG forces or those of aligned militias, manning checkpoints, and taking part in combat.