The first person they have to kill is someone in their own family — or be killed themselves,” says Susan McKay of the University of Wyoming who has interviewed boy and girl child soliders throughout central Africa.

Most girls are forcibly abducted and given roles as cooks, porters, spies, “wives” and in combat, McKay said.

[FYI: I’m an independent journalist who supports his family and the public interest writing articles about important social/environmental issues. ]

In spite of this fact legal experts believe child soldiers should be held accountable for war crimes otherwise they may be more likely to be chosen by warlords to perform the worst atrocities.

See story Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Their Own Safety

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See also my other articles:

Venezuelan Smuggling Opens Door to Blood Diamond Trade
Sierra Leone’s Blood Diamonds and the Kimberley Process,

For a good introduction to the issue  watch the excellent movie Blood Diamond.

**UPDATE JAN 2010**

Blood diamond problem has largely been solved but now there may be “Blood Coltan” in your phone, ipod, and other electronic devices…read the shocking story here World’s “Grotesque Indifference” to Congo “Rape Mines”

what you can do:

Electronic Gadgets Fuel Congo “Rape Mines”