(Reuters) – It was during an ordinary game of soccer when Michel Chikwanine was abducted at age 5 by rebel soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and recruited into the army. Herded onto a truck with his friend Kevin, Chikwanine was blindfolded, handed an AK-47 gun so heavy he could barely lift it and ordered to shoot. “So I pulled the trigger,” Chikwanine told a conference on conflict and migration issues on Tuesday, where activists, advocates and others met to discuss such issues as the estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today. “I took off the blindfold,” Chikwanine, now 28, said. “There was blood on my hands. There was blood on my shirt, and in front of me was my best friend Kevin.

 

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