By some estimates, children now make up between 40 and 50 percent of the insurgents’ total force strength of around 15,000. On the Government side, officials admit, children compose a fifth of the 25,000-strong Civil Defense Forces. In Africa, child soldiers have fought or are fighting in Angola, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, the Sudan, Congo and Uganda, as well as Sierra Leone. There are now an estimated 300,000 child soldiers worldwide, a figure that has increased by one-sixth during the last three years.

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