One thing I would also like to ask about is this. It sounds to me as though this is a unique situation in respect to child soldiers. In most of the cases we have studied before, children are usually abducted, cranked up on some kind of drug, and usually a firearm is used to threaten that they are going to kill their parents in front of them. Then they are taken and in fact psychologically ruined to the point that a huge amount of counselling is needed to get them back to the point where they can become regular global citizens.
This case sounds like one in which the desperation is due to the fact that they are starving to death and that the best way to sustain their family is to support military armed groups so that they can get their next meal.
Am I overstating it?