07 October 2003
The Return of the Child Soldiers of Sierra Leone
U.N. film with Michael Douglas graphically depicts their plight
By Bruce Greenberg
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Actor Michael Douglas, starring in the role of United Nations Messenger of Peace in the U.N. film "Child Soldiers," discovered in the making of the documentary that "unlocking the child" in a boy who did unspeakable things as a combatant in Sierra Leone's decade-long civil conflict could come from something as simple as sharing a favorite song.
In a particularly tender scene in the film that follows the post-combat lives of three teenagers -- Abu, Stephen and a girl named Fatmata -- as they are re-integrated into society and reunited with their families, Douglas attempts to coax a non-communicative Abu out of his shell by singing an American standard "I Love You A Bushel and A Peck." Suddenly a smile spreads over the boy's face and he responds with a song of his own.
Douglas was at the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C. October 2 to introduce a screening of the U.N. Works/RCN Entertainment production on Sierra Leone's former child soldiers he had made in West Africa for the Showtime Network series "What's Going On?" He was joined at the screening by Holly Burkhalter, Advocacy Director of Physicians for Human Rights, and a member of the board of directors of USIP and Gillian Martin Sorensen, U.N. Assistant Secretary General for External Relations.
The film follows the odyssey of Abu, as members of a Sierra Leonean reconciliation team, accompanied by U.N. workers and Douglas, travel by helicopter and foot in an effort to reunite him with the family from whom he had been abducted by rebel forces at the age of six. After several failed attempts, they manage to locate Abu's mother in a remote village, and a tearful reunion follows.
While he was a captive of the rebels, Abu was drugged to be compliant, taught to be cruel and heartless, and groomed as a killing machine. His story, the film points out, reflects the fate of the estimated 10,000 young boys and girls taken from their villages and families and trained as combatants.
Shortly after the peace agreement that ended the conflict, organizations such as the U.N. Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the International Red Cross went about securing the release of these children from the various combatant groups. They placed them in transitional youth camps run by relief agencies like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and began the often frustrating and lengthy process of deprogramming and reintegrating them into society.
Fatmata's story is the same and different. She was living with her aunt when the rebels attacked the village. "I was hiding under a bed with other children, and a rebel soldier came and took me away. My heart was beating; I thought I was going to die. I prayed to God," she says.
The rebel took her to his camp where she was forced to work as a servant. "His wife treated me very badly," Fatmata says. She finally was freed and ended up living in a community of girls, many of whom turned to prostitution to support themselves.
Fatmata, too, dreamed of being reunited with her parents but the task was complicated. A reconciliation team social worker videotaped her and showed the tape in local villages, hoping that someone would recognize her and lead them to her parents. Eventually, the social worker located her mother, videotaped her and in an emotional scene, played the image of Fatmata's mother pleading for her return. After ten years of waiting and searching, Fatmata finally was going home.
Stephen was once a hard-core soldier but now resembles any 17-year-old. "For four years he carried a gun instead of a school bag," explained Douglas. "He was 12 when the rebels stole him away; 16 when the U.N. secured his release. He was reunited with family, but shortly thereafter returned to school."
He is now a reporter for the popular Sierra Leonean radio show "Talking Drums." He has, according to Douglas, "put his past behind him. He hopes his work in radio will help families accept the ex-child soldiers."
The film concludes on a hopeful note with the belief that the youngest children of a peaceful Sierra Leone can grow up knowing how to build a future for themselves and their country.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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