‘Magic’ Lures Children To War Rebels Use Legend Of Invincible Warriors

In the back of a truck rolling through the dense jungle of northeastern Zaire, child soldiers with green vines wrapped around their heads and assault rifles over their shoulders head into battle, convinced they are invincible.

“The victory is ours, no one can steal it from us,” the boys sing in Swahili, following up with enthusiastic shouts of “Mayi-Mayi! Mayi-Mayi!”

Zairian rebel leaders have found that children, some as young as 8, are potent fighters - especially when they think they cannot die.

Rebels recruit them with the lure of the Mayi-Mayi, tribal fighters who, according to legend, were treated with special water from the local religious leader to make them invincible in battle.

If the warrior follows a strict code of behavior and wears leaves or grass around his head, the legend says, he will be invisible to the enemy.

“Look, these are where bullets hit me,” said one child warrior, pointing to strange abrasions on his chest. “Here is where a rocket hit my head. You see, the bullets turn to water when they hit me.”

While the original Mayi-Mayi were village men from the Hunde, Nande and Nglima tribes of the mountainous North Kivu province, the child warriors are not restricted by ethnicity. Wherever Mayi-Mayi contingents base themselves, groups of local boys gather, hoping to join the rebel troops fighting in eastern Zaire to topple the government.

Thousands of Mayi-Mayi were seen passing through Beni recently on their way to fight near Uganda.

“They are already fierce fighters,” said one rebel officer who calls himself Capt. Chuck Norris. “Just because they are small does not mean they do not have a reason to fight.”

They carry weapons ranging from machine guns to spears and slingshots. One 14-year-old had only a lead pipe with a brass faucet on the end.