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Summary: Children as young as 15 are being used by security forces to regain control of Misurata, and threatened with being shot if they refuse to fight, according to young government troops captured by rebels.
[15 APRIL 2011] - Col Muammar Gaddafi is using schoolboy conscripts as young as 15 in his battle to regain the besieged town is Misurara, according to young government troops captured by rebels. The teenagers are told they are going on training exercises until they reach the front lines, when they are given rifles and told by officers they will be shot if they retreat or desert. Umran, a 17-year-old from near Tripoli, said he had spent two years at a military school only to leave and work in a shop in November. He was recalled to barracks "for more training" as soon as the February 17 uprising began and kept for 40 days without access to the radio or television. He said: "I was given a rifle and we were told we were going to shoot targets on an exercise. Then we found ourselves in Misurata. There were 90 of us, aged 15 to 19. "We were told we had to cleanse Misurata. There were invaders from Egypt and we had to fight against them." "We said we didn't want any part in it and requested to leave. They refused and some tried to run off and officers fired on them." Those who stayed were reassured 500 reinforcements were on their way, though these never arrived. The conscripts spent several days living in abandoned houses near the heavy road when Mr Umran and four comrades tried to escape. They were caught and their commander, who he named as Shahatar Zbaidi, forced them into the lead 4x4 vehicle for the next assault on well-defended rebel positions along the heavy road. Umran was hit by fire from an anti-aircraft gun as soon as the assault began and woke in a rebel hospital, where one leg had been amputated and a shattered arm had been pinned and reset. Abdul Rahman Absalem, 19, treated in another hospital for bullet wounds to his chest and abdomen, said he had been training as an electrician at a military school when he and his classmates were rounded up and kept under guard at a camp near Sirte. "We were told Misurata had been occupied by militant gangs and drug addicts." He and 15 others were hurled into fighting along the heavy road. He said: "When we were fired upon, we ran back. The officer had run first and we followed him back. "I was running toward our side when our own lines started to open fire on us because we were retreating. I don't know who hit me." Further Information:
Owner: Ben Farmerpdf: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/845...Association: The Telegraph UK