User:Mdiamon2/Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone

Links to Different Wiki Page:

Ishmael Beah

Link to Page Outside Wiki:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4129610.ece

Drafting and Experimenting:

User:Mdiamon2/article_notes

Overview
The Small Boys Unit (SBU) was a group of children who were forcibly recruited by the Revolutionary Untied Front (RUF) as militants during Sierra Leone recent civil war. The SBU was made of over 10,000 children mostly between the ages of 8 and 10 who were notorious for their particularly cruel crimes against civilian population, including human mutilation and torture. Children were taken to special work camps, where the boys were trained for war and the girls were made into sex slaves.

Recruitment
Most of the recruitment tactics to get children to join the army were forced. Commonly, RUF members would raid local villages and capture children. After their capture, it was not uncommon to force the children to witness or participate in the torture and killing of their relatives.