Hundreds of children have been forced into armed groups in northern Mali, some serving as soldiers and others used as sex slaves, rights campaigners told reporters Sunday.
"We have several hundred children aged between nine and 17 years old within the ranks of the armed groups including the Islamists who control northern Mali," said Mamoud Lamine Cisse, president of a Malian child rights coalition.
"After investigations, we have corroborating information that these children are used as soldiers, minesweepers, scouts, spies, messengers, look-outs, cooks and sexual slaves in the case of young girls," Cisse told journalists. The children were mostly from Mali, Senegal and Niger, he said.
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