The romantic notions which children in West Africa have of war are contributing to the spread of conflict in that region, Institute for Security Studies researchers said at a seminar in Pretoria on Friday. “Children are the transporters of the epicentre of conflict moving around in West Africa,” said Angela McIntyre, leader of Interact, the ISS research project on children and conflict. Kwesi Aning, research fellow of the organisation African Security Dialogue and Research in Accra, Ghana, said: “West Africa, for the next decade of two, will be a pretty unstable place.” Violence had wracked several countries in the region recently, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. “Which country will be next? My gut feeling says Togo and Burkina Faso.” During election campaigns the youth were deliberately manipulated to stoke violence, Aning said. In Sierra Leone, this happened once too often. Full Story
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