“You have youth who are incredibly vulnerable to armed group recruitment,\u201d said Sean Poole, from Invisible Children<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether that is forced recruitment because they live in a really remote location, or incentivized recruitment, that we see so much of in the Central African Republic or the Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed groups become the most viable employment offer in a region,” Mr Poole said.<\/p>\n Returned LRA fighter, Ogot, was abducted when he was 15, and spent 5 years with the rebel group. He told us that violence is a difficult pattern to change after returning.<\/p>\n “Because, you know, when you are in the bush your mind is thinking of killing, arresting [abducting] others. Then afterwards you want to destroy the whole world – you have that black heart,” Ogot said.<\/p>\n “We continue to see victims of one conflict be enveloped into another and we are seeing that right now with central Africa and South Sudan,” said Mr Poole.<\/p>\n “I would say there’s no easy solution to these problems but we see the strongest efforts to push back against armed-group recruitment at the local level, so we really push that we should be supporting local leaders who are developing community-to-community interventions to support victims that are returning and limit the exposure of individuals to armed-group recruitment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Aid agencies are providing psycho-social support and conflict-sensitive education for returnees.<\/p>\n “Like Gulu Support the Children Organization (GUSCO<\/a><\/u>), and those of Windle Trust<\/a><\/u>, who gave us advice, and they were even taking others to school,\u201d said Ogot.<\/p>\n \u201cGUSCO helped us a lot, giving me advice. You could stay there and [they would] counsel you like they were your real parents.”<\/p>\n _______________________________________________<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/peace-news-logo-150x122.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/a>International news today is driven by sensationalism. From conflict zones, we hear stories about killings, bombings, and the views of violent extremists. This type of coverage tends to inflame passions and perpetuate negative stereotypes, fueling distrust and violence.\u00a0<\/em>Peace News aims to present the other side \u2013 stories from conflict zones we often don\u2019t hear. Our stories are about people taking risks for peace. We highlight the opinions of ordinary people who want non-violent solutions to their political differences. Our stories aren’t always about shootings and explosions, but they do tell you stories from war zones that hopefully go some way towards building trust and reconciliation.\u00a0Founded by Dr Babak Bahador<\/a>, and launched in 2015, Peace News is a non-partisan, independent, news agency. We are based in New Zealand and Washington D.C., USA, and\u00a0Kate Roff<\/a> is the founding, and current, editor.<\/em><\/p>\n