BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC—He was 12 years old when his older brother was shot dead, 14 when a militia recruited him, fed him drugs and put him on the front lines, and now at 16, he is trying to move past the fighting, as the crisis in his country worsens.

Jean is one of the Central African Republic’s estimated 6,000 child soldiers and he tells his story while sitting on a bench in a makeshift classroom, occasionally wiping sweat from his forehead in the 40-degree heat.

There are only 235 child soldiers like Jean from across the country who have been released by militia groups this year following negotiations with United Nations representatives.

Star photo gallery:Central African Republic

Each is a small victory in a country without a justice system, national army, or police force, a country that has suffered months of anarchy. France and UN officials warn genocide looms.

The UN’s top official for human rights, Navi Pillay, made an impassioned plea for help Thursday, saying the level of hatred between Muslim and Christian communities had reached a “terrifying level.”

The Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest countries, descended into chaos last year when the Seleka, an alliance of mainly Muslim militias from the north, took the capital and ruled for 10 months — killing, looting and raping with impunity. Vigilante squads drawn from the Christian majority and former national army, known as FACA, rose to fight back with equal ferocity, the violence peaking in December when 1,000 were killed in two days.

With international pressure, Seleka-backed President Michel Djotodia was forced to step down in January and an interim president, Catherine Samba-Pancha, was appointed.

But the vigilante squads known as anti-balaka — balaka meaning “machete” in the local Sango language — sought retribution, setting fire to villages and targeting not just Seleka, but Muslims in general, including women and children. UNICEF confirmed two children had been beheaded and cannibalism had been reported.

While there has been a decrease in violence in the capital in recent weeks, it is not because warring sides are reconciling, but because about 90 per cent of the city’s Muslim population has fled north or to refugee camps in Chad and other neighbouring countries.

Those who have stayed live in fear and, as dusk approaches, PK12 and PK5, the two remaining Muslim neighbourhoods, come under attack. Wandering into the wrong neighbourhood can end in a lynching.

The crisis is far from over and, a world away, retired Gen. Romeo Dallaire is following events closely.

He doesn’t know the details of Jean’s story, but after working to eradicate the use of child soldiers, he knows how children are recruited and says Jean’s story should serve as a red flag. Both the Seleka and anti-balaka have many children within their ranks and Dallaire says their involvement is one of the factors that can lead to genocide.

“Let’s not divorce what’s happening in the Central African Republic with what happened 20 years ago in Rwanda,” Dallaire said in a recent interview. “More and more, we have been able to present the argument that recruitment of child soldiers is a social breakdown that leads to atrocities, because that’s why they get them. They drug them and so on and there’s no limit to what the kids will end up doing. That escalates to genocide.”

Twenty years ago, as the head of the UN mission in Rwanda during the genocide that killed 800,000 in just 100 days, Dallaire’s calls for intervention went unheeded until too late.

Dallaire says the world — and Canada, in particular — is dangerously overlooking how dire CAR’s situation is and he calls on Ottawa to revive Canada’s peacekeeping role and join a proposed UN mission of 12,000. He condemned the lack of forceful action to date as a bias against Africa’s conflicts.

“We’ve actually established a damn pecking order and the sub-Saharan black African — yes we’re interested but it just doesn’t count enough to spill our blood, to get embroiled in something complex that will need longer-term stability and influence.”

When calls of a looming genocide first came here in December, a contingent of 2,000 French troops did arrive quickly, followed by 6,000 African Union peacekeepers, who together now patrol the streets. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s call for a UN mission is still being debated by the Security Council.

But the current deployment is clearly insufficient, as peacekeepers are unable to ensure even the protection of a makeshift camp of mainly women and children in the PK12 neighbourhood. Thousands are reportedly hiding in the countryside where there are few troops and the AU forces lack basic resources. The real danger will come if Muslim residents return home, or if the Seleka regroups, receives outside help and takes the south once again.

The European Union promised to send 1,000 troops, but the plan has reportedly been complicated by Ukraine’s uprising, as European countries want to keep their forces close to home.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in this impoverished nation of 4.5 million worsens by the day. The rainy season this month will bring disease and make many roads impassable. On Friday, after a two-day visit to CAR, the executive director of the World Food Programme said the food shortage is not only threatening CAR but its neighbours which harbour refugees. “It is not overstating the facts to say that CAR is teetering on the brink of a catastrophic humanitarian disaster,” Eritharin Cousin wrote in her blog.

Jean’s story provides a brief glimpse into how the crisis unfolded, as well as the challenges ahead.

Two years ago, Jean became part of an armed group in his village, whose ranks were among those to later form the Seleka. Jean is now targeted by the anti-balaka, which is why the Star agreed to not disclose the location of the camp run by UNICEF and the Italian non-government organization Cooperazione Internazionale, COOPI. “Jean” is a pseudonym.

Jean is from the town of Bambari, about 385 kilometres northeast of Bangui. Four years ago, one of his older brothers was killed by members of FACA, the national army. Jean said they were trying to steal his father’s car and his brother intervened. Soon after, the militia asked the 14-year-old to fight. “I kept this in my heart for a very long time so when they came along, I joined them.”

He became sick with malaria. They were hungry and pulled roots to eat. Many of his friends died in the two years they trained and then fought as Seleka. “If they fell, we left them there. That was the worst moment of my life.”

But he was a teenager fuelled by revenge, home-brewed alcohol and drugs, provided by the leaders.

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As the Seleka took Bangui last March, Jean, small and baby-faced, was sent on “covert missions,” although he doesn’t provide details. “I felt nothing,” he said in Sango through a translator. “We were taking drugs. I could participate in 20 battles and be fine.”

Jean has been in UNICEF’s care at the Transit Orientation Centre (TOC) since Jan. 16, when he was part of a negotiated release. “When he first came here, he was agitated, causing trouble and always asking for drugs,” said TOC director Ngambo Anicet.

But in two months, Jean has worked hard to learn his father’s trade as a mechanic and overcome his addiction. Outside the classroom, we can hear laughter and shouting as other former child soldiers and teenagers now orphaned work to learn a variety of trades. In one room, about 25 teenage girls learn to sew; in another, about a dozen are practicing hair weaves. A small group of both boys and girls swing hoes beyond the classrooms to prepare the soil for planting.

Anicet says the goal is to help these former fighters learns skills that will let them build a life once they reintegrate back to their villages. The success rate varies, but he has hope for Jean, who, despite only having only studied until the 6th grade, is articulate and bright.

As the interview wraps up, UNICEF spokesperson Linda Tom asks if Jean has any questions. “Yes,” he says. “You’re from Canada. What are you going to do for us and all the other children still fighting?”

Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan has been asking the same questions in Ottawa. Her efforts resulted in a four-hour “take note” debate last month.

“We say ‘never again,’ but it’s 20 years from Rwanda and it’s ever again,” Duncan said in an interview Friday. “Canada could be playing a substantial role right now in supporting peace and reconciliation.”

Duncan wants more humanitarian aid, but she also wants to see Canada offer logistical support to the AU forces. On the eve of that House of Commons debate, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced a $5-million donation to add to Canada’s $6.9-million contribution in humanitarian aid last year.

The NDP’s foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar, says if the UN mission is approved, Canada should consider offering troops.

“The AU and French have gone as far as they’re going to go. That was supposed to be an immediate response for a short-term period,” says Dewar. “Clearly, there’s a role here for Canada . . . we’re well-trained, we have linguist capacity. We should step up to the plate.”

The last large-scale UN peacekeeping mission involving Canada began in 2000, with a six-month deployment of 450 Canadian troops to police a security zone along the border of Ethiopia and Eritrea. A much smaller unit continued to support the region until 2003.

Walter Dorn, a professor at the Royal Military College, says he believes Canadians take pride in peacekeeping missions, despite the weariness of foreign intervention in the years since Sept. 11.

“The general public has a very positive view of peacekeeping and I think quite correctly sees the difference between peacekeeping and operations like Afghanistan,” Dorn said in an interview.

“Peacekeeping is a much less dangerous, much less costly mission. Unlike NATO, the UN actually pays you back a good portion of your costs.”

A spokesperson for Baird would not say if there had been discussions about sending troops, noting that Canada already contributes to the UN peacekeeping budget, and he cited the $11.9 million in aid donated to date.

“Canada is deeply concerned by the security and humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic,” spokesperson Adam Hodge wrote in an emailed statement Friday. “We’ll continue to closely follow the UN Security Council deliberations on the situation.”

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