In the battles for Mogadishu, all parties involved in the conflict such as the Union of Islamic Courts, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces recruited children for use in combat.
The militant rebel group al-Shabaab who are fighting to establish an Islamic state is another major recruiter of children.
[3] In 2010, Human Rights Watch reported that Al-Shabaab was recruiting children as young as ten to bolster their forces.
Children in Somalia risk death constantly; they can be killed, recruited, and sent to the frontline, punished by al-Shabab because they are caught listening to music or ‘wearing the wrong clothes’, be forced to fend for themselves because they have lost their parents or even die because they don't have access to adequate medical care.
[5] In 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres commented on a report from the UN security council which estimated that over fifty percent of Al-Shabaab's fighting strength was made up of children, with some as young as nine being sent to the front.