15 January 2007
Dear friends, world music fans,
First if I may, I would like to tell you a little bit about my life and why this project means a lot to me. I was a very privileged child by any standard (Western or other). I lived a very interesting life indeed. Yes, I sat on the lap of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, greeted the former dictator of Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, Mobutu and his wife in Addis Ababa airport (Ethiopia) and attended a boarding school in which Idi Amin sons were also boarding. These are just a few of the many experiences I had. My Dad was a fervent defender of democracy, a very honourable man who dedicated all his life, as an active pan-Africanist, to the independence movements in Africa and elsewhere around the world. He joined an international organisation to help newly independent countries attain their objectives in the process of reconstructing their infrastructure. Unfortunately, when the Cold War started, the African continent was severely affected: it brought to power people without vision and with no other motive but to siphon money and destroy any opposition.
In 1987, following my father’s tragic death, my mother decided to go back to the DR Congo but unfortunately soon after she arrived in the country, a civil war started. That was the last time I saw or heard from my mum until 2003 when my brother and I finally managed to trace her. Although the situation on the ground was still bad it was not as bad as in previous years, so my brother and I decided to take the risk and we went to spend 3 months with her there. What we both witnessed was shocking beyond belief.
Amnesty International said, and I share their view on this, that one of the most disturbing features of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been the widespread and systematic use of children aged under 18 as fighters, porters, domestic servants or sexual possessions by government forces and armed groups. It is estimated that at least 30,000 children were attached to the armed forces and armed groups in the conflict zones of eastern DRC, constituting up to 40 per cent of some forces. Girls were estimated to represent up to 40 per cent of these children and in early 2005 it was believed that around 12,500 girls were associated with the armed forces and groups. Some children interviewed by Amnesty International were aged as young as six when they were recruited. Under international law, the recruitment and use of children under 15 is considered a war crime, and the recruitment and use of children under 18 is prohibited.
More than two years after the official launch of the national DDR plan in July 2004, perhaps 11,000 children are still with the armed forces or groups, or are otherwise unaccounted for in the DDR programme. In particular, large numbers of girls are missing: in some areas, less than two per cent of the children passing through the DDR programme have been girls. Amnesty International believes on the basis of its research that the majority of girls have been abandoned or misidentified as "dependants" of adult fighters.
