Today@Dal

From the CBC news website, Nov. 22:

A resurgence of violence in Congo reached a pinnacle this week as M23 rebel fighters seized Goma and a nearby international airport, increasing widespread concerns amongst humanitarian organizations that some of those fighting on the front lines are child soldiers.

The rebel force — originating from soldiers who defected from a Congolese militia seven months ago — has stretched its influence across the North Kivu province bordering Rwanda, on Tuesday capturing the provincial capital, which is home to one million people.

...

Shelly Whitman, director of the Halifax-based Child Soldiers Initiative, housed at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, on Wednesday was in Musanze, Rwanda, one hour northeast of Goma.

"Even though we're not very far away, people are very calm," she said

Whitman is taking part in a UN course aimed at training national level troops and peacekeepers in the region on how to approach child soldiers.

"It’s an extremely opportune time because of what’s happening," Whitman said. “There's been a heavy use of children in Congo and it’s not a secret to anybody.

"Every incarnation of every group there has used them at one point or another.”

That includes the Congolese government, which according to local media reports handed out weapons to children as M23 rebels rolled into Goma, Whitman said.

Read the rest of this story at the CBC website.