Kismayo (Sunatimes) Al-Shabaab rebel group in the port city of Kismayo is reportedly recruiting students and teachers from all schools in the city.

The rebel group has compelled all schools in the city to bring students and teachers who will join its fighters and take part in the fight against the Somali government troops in the region.

The group issued the order in a meeting with students and teachers from all schools in the city while at the same time registering new recruits.

Speaking at the meeting, area rebel leader Abukar Ali Adan, said teachers and their students must take part in what he called Holy fight against the government forces in the region.

Reports say Al-Shabaab has recruited over 70 teachers and students from different school in Kismayo during the meeting.

Some of the parents whose children were recruited into the militia expressed their disapproval, saying that they are powerless and cannot face the militia group to get back their children.

In October this year, Al-Shabaab rebel group in Bardera district of Gedo region ordered young shoe shiners to register with them and take part in the fight against government troops in parts of Southern Somalia, forcing shoe shiners, mainly young boys, to stay off their work places for fear of conscription.

The group also compelled locals in Baidoa to join their militias in lower Juba to hunker down for battle with advancing Kenyan and government troops.

On July 20, this year, Amnesty International said children as young as eight years old have been recruited to fight in Somalia’s ongoing civil war.

In its report, Amnesty said most of the young soldiers recruited are between the ages of 10 and 17, adding that some were lured from their homes by promises of gifts like mobile phones while others were kidnapped.

The 90-page report was based on 200 interviews with Somalis who had fled to neighboring countries.

The Amnesty report cites the recruitment of children by armed groups as one of the reasons so many Somalis are fleeing southern and central Somalia.

Al-Shabaab is locked in fighting with the Somali government backed by African Union forces in Mogadishu and the Kenyan troops that crossed into parts of the country earlier in October.

Nairobi accused the rebel group of being behind a series of foreign kidnapping from its territory, an accusation Al-Shabaab denied.

By Fadumo Farah