(Spiegel) – The war robbed him of a homeland but in the refugee camp there was no future. That’s why Abdallah and his friends returned — to fight as child soldiers against Mali’s hated government. Abdallah’s war is only a short bus ride away. Mali, Abdallah’s long-suffering country, is 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the house where the shy boy is now crouched on the floor. Abdallah was 11 when Tuareg rebels launched an uprising against Mali’s central government in 2012. He fled westward with his family, and they ended up in the Mbera refugee camp in Mauretania, not far from the border.
