Mali Islamists 'buying child soldiers for £375'

Islamists who have taken over northern Mali are "buying child soldiers" from their families for £375 and compiling a "frightening" list of unmarried women who are pregnant or had borne children, according to senior UN official.

Mali Islamists targeting women - UN

REUTERS

Fighters from the Islamic militant group the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa ride on a truck in the northeastern Malian city of Gao.

October 11 2012 at 10:16am
By EDITH M LEDERER

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United Nations -

A senior UN official who just returned from Mali says radical Islamists who now control about two-thirds of the country are targeting women -demanding that they cover their heads, restricting their ability to work, and compiling a list of women who are pregnant or have children but are not married which has raised fears of punishment.

Mali radio presenter beaten by Islamists, hospitalised

Posted by AFP on August 6, 2012
BAMAKO, Aug 6) – A radio presenter was badly beaten by Islamists occupying the northern Mali town of Gao after he reported on a protest in which they were stopped from cutting off a thief’s hand, hospital sources said Monday.
As the Islamists attempt to deepen their hold on the north of the country, government vowed Monday it was working flat out to win back its territory lost to the extremists, and its commitment to a secular state.

Mali armed groups using hundreds of child soldiers: NGO

Sharia!

Some are serving as soldiers and others used as sex slaves, rights campaigners said Bamako: 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.

MALI: CHRISTIANS FLEE IMPOSITION OF SHARIA

MALI: CHRISTIANS FLEE IMPOSITION OF SHARIA

Elizabeth Kendal, Assist News

Published 04/12/2012 - 8:07 a.m. CST

Pack rape of women and children, plus Nigeria update (Kaduna Easter bombing)

AUSTRALIA -(ANS) - Having seized the capitals of the three main northern provinces in three days -- Kidal, on 30 March, Gao on 31 March and Timbuktu on 1 April -- the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (NMLA) declared it had achieved its military goal. (NMLA is the ethnic Tuareg rebel group that has seized control of northern Mali.) Consequently, on Thursday 5 April the NMLA announced a ceasefire. Whilst the NMLA has been fighting for political ends -- specifically for autonomy in their homeland -- they have been aided by Islamic jihadists who have been fighting for religious ends, specifically an Islamic state where Sharia (Islamic) Law is enforced.