Children Associated With Armed Forces and Armed Groups

Issa was born in Dorumbaka, 198 km from Maiduguri. For the majority of the interview, Issa sits facing away from me, his head and eyes locked down to the ground, his voice quiet and monotone, and holding his left knee. He has been living in Maidaguri for 5 years, displaced by the insurgency. Issa is the one of two children, and his mom is a widower. His dad passed away when he was very young. He was too small to remember what happened before the insurgency, but he remembers that he heard gunshots in the night. When Boko Haram came to his village, his mother initially hid him under blankets as if he was a corpse to protect him from the insurgents taking him away. They would call all the women to come out of their homes to preach to them, usually by force. She would attend these sermons but leave Issa hidden, bringing him water and food when it was safe, but one day Issa peeped out but spotted; “Oh there is a boy inside!”. The soldier who spotted him tried to carry Issa away, and he called out for his mom as they did. A tug of war ensued, both parties fighting for Issa, two men with guns on one side, another two men behind his mom. They threatened to shoot her because of Issa. She said “Nobody is going with this child because his father is dead since he was small!”. The soldiers said they had never seen a woman so strong like that. Despite her struggle, the soldiers took Issa and for the next three days the family prayed at the evening prayer for his return. Held captive at the camp, an open space in Dorumbaca, about 25km or so away from his home. Issa would often refuse the food offered to him by Boko Haram. At one point, a military jet passed overhead, and fearing it would fire upon on them, all the children started shouting that they were not Boko Haram. After three days of being held captive, Issa tied his shoes around his arms so his steps would not make any noise, and during the Boko Haram evening prayer he and another boy made their escape arou