“
The terrorists use these children and forcibly train them to fight in their ranks, whereas the girls are raped and forced to become their ‘brides’. In some cases, when they have grown bored with
them, these girls are simply thrown out.
” Father Kwiriwi Fonseca
Displaced women in Cabo Delgado province.
Father Fonseca said: “Sister Eliane herself was held for 24 days by the terrorists in the mountains, and she begged me, ‘Padre Fonseca, please don’t forget the people who have been abducted, above all the children and adolescents, who are being trained to become terrorists’.” 82 He added: “The terrorists use these children and forcibly train them to Àght in their ranks, whereas the girls are raped and forced to become their ‘brides’. In some cases, when they have grown bored with them, these girls are simply thrown out.” 83
forced into early marriage. 84 The charity ― which also reported that a child perhaps as young as 11 was beheaded during the conÁict 85 ― said this number was likely to be much higher due to under-reporting of the problem. Between September 2020 and April 2021, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had registered more than 2,600 appeals in Mozambique from people who had lost family members, most of whom are young adults and children. 86
The priest said: “We can speak of hundreds [of cases].”
In June 2021, the charity Save the Children released a report stating that “at least 51 children, most of them girls” were seized by non-state armed groups and that the girls were at risk of sexual violence and being
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