Already battle-scarred: an Italian NGO rehabilitating child soldiers in CAR. Flickr / European Commission DG ECHO. Some rights reserved.
Last week brought something as unexpected as a piece of good news from Bangui, capital of the Central Africa Republic (CAR). During conversations before a week-long national reconciliation forum, which brings together politicians, armed groups and religious leaders, representatives claiming to represent the warring factions agreed not only to halt the use of child soldiers but also to release all children among their ranks. This is good news but it should be received with a degree of caution.
CAR is about to embark on an ambitious process of restoration of state power and the meeting was clearly part of this. As it is a process in which all actors, including those perpetrating violence, are interested in playing some part—or, at the very least, not being excluded from the outset—they were bound to agree to protect children once the proposal was put on the table.
