‘I want to study, not to kill. I’d like to see the Congo at peace, not war’
The 13-year-old recalls his first killing, the reward ambitious soldiers got after battles but he also remembers the decision he took that ultimately changed the course of his life forever.
Lacking money for his school fees, Joseph signed up with a local armed group called PARECO.
Like many impoverished children in the DRC, he thought he could make more money fighting for a living.
“We started working with the armed group as soon as we arrived. I walked and walked with them, for 10 months,” he said.
He had set out from his home town with two other young friends without so much as a word to his parents or six brothers and sisters.
“I thought I would get money but I had to steal,” he added.
The boy explained how militia commanders forced children to fight in front ahead of older fighters, a common tactic used among Congo’s armed groups.
He describes a battle that took place between the PARECO militia and Tutsi rebels.
Raising his voice, he simulates the sounds of gunfire with his mouth and crawls on his hands and knees on the ground with an imaginary gun.
“The fight started at five in the morning and went on until midday. There was much more of us than them.”
There were up to 40 PARECO fighters, he explained, who were moving in groups of ten in the bush.
“There is no need to be afraid because if you turn back you could be killed by the commander. We were told to go and take revenge for the killing of our friends.
Standing in a classroom, the boy continued explaining the weaponry used by fighters, the types of guns, grenades and mortars.
His cold description of the battle is striking.
“I killed ten people,” he freely admitted. Some of the enemy killed were also children, he added.
Often PARECO fighters received “gifts” after battles, like a higher rank or the position of guard for a militia commander.
But after not getting paid and marching in the bush for months, Joseph fled the militia one night under the cover of darkness with two friends.
After changing their army uniforms for civilian clothes, they found their way to the UN peacekeeping base in Masisi where staff took them in.
“I want to study, not to kill. I’d like to see the Congo at peace, not war,” added Joseph.
