20100703
reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) - About half of school-age children in the southern Somali port town of Kismayu are ditching classes to join rebels fighting to topple a fragile government, teachers said.

They are lured by money and the mystique of militia fighting in a chaotic country that has little to offer them in the way of jobs or opportunity.

The Horn of Africa nation has had no central government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and an interim government is battling al Shabaab rebels who make money through taxing port users in Kismayu.

"They proudly carry their guns around while the classrooms are empty... Islamist commanders woo the children whether in public gatherings or in the mosques," a Kismayu primary school teacher said, declining to be named.

Al Shabaab, which professes loyalty to al Qaeda, is feared by many Somalis for its application of a strict form of Islamic law, including executing people for blasphemy and robbery.

In the past, the group has organised Koran-reciting competitions among youths with prizes like anti-tank mines, computers and AK-47 guns for the winners.

Mohamed Kadhar, 17, is one of the many children who have dropped to join the militant group.

He is content as a young soldier and has no regrets because he could never earn as much money elsewhere, even if he had gone to university, because of the country's conflict.