CHILD SOLDIERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

The document provides a comparative analysis of child involvement in conflict in Mozambique and South Africa. In Mozambique, it details the devastating effects of a 16-year war of destabilisation and the subsequent use of government, NGO, and traditional community rituals to reintegrate child ex-soldiers. In South Africa, it explores the role of children as 'proxy soldiers' and activists during the struggle against apartheid from 1976 to 1994, highlighting the psychological damage of state repression and the challenges of resocialisation in a post-apartheid society.

• In Mozambique, the war of destabilisation that ended in 1992 had a severe impact on children, with estimates suggesting that approximately 45% of the total war victims (roughly 1 million deaths) were children under 15 years of age.
• Mozambican children suffered extreme trauma, including kidnapping and forced combat; a study indicated that 64% of kidnapped children were taken from their families and 28% of those kidnapped (all boys) were trained for combat.
• The social reintegration of children in Mozambique has relied heavily on traditional community mechanisms, such as purification rituals and 'Ku-phalha' (propitiation of spirits), which help individuals re-establish harmony and 'erase' the bonds of war.
• The Programme for Family Localisation and Reunification (PLRF) in Mozambique was highly effective, reuniting approximately 15,588 children out of 22,000 identified between 1989 and 1998.
• In South Africa, children's involvement in conflict from 1976 to 1994 often took the form of 'proxy soldiers' or street militants rather than traditional army recruits, particularly during the Soweto uprising and subsequent township revolts.
• The apartheid state in South Africa systematically targeted children, with the New York-based Committee for Human Rights describing the state as conducting a 'war against children' in the mid-1980s.
• South African children involved in the struggle developed a 'fighting' identity and a 'culture of violence' that persisted after 1994, leading to a 'lost generation' of youth who lack formal tools for success in a normal life.
• Post-apartheid South Africa has taken legal steps to protect children, including the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995 and the 1996 Constitution, which explicitly states that a child shall not be used directly in armed conflict.
• A significant gap in the Mozambican peace process was the failure of the General Peace Accord (AGP) to establish a formal demobilisation mechanism for child soldiers, meaning many were not officially recognised as soldiers and were thus not exempt from compulsory military service.

APA

Máusse, M. A., & Nina, D. (1999). CHILD SOLDIERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono37.pdf

Chicago

Máusse, Miguel A, and Daniel Nina. CHILD SOLDIERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. Institute for Security Studies, 1999. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono37.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Máusse |first1=Miguel A |last2=Nina |first2=Daniel |title=CHILD SOLDIERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=April 1999 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono37.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{musse1999child, author = {Máusse, Miguel A and Nina, Daniel}, title = {{CHILD SOLDIERS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {1999}, month = apr, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono37.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }