The harrowing account of a former child soldier in Somalia has laid bare the collapse of a state that Britain has spent billions propping up. Now, as Whitehall reviews its aid commitments, the question is whether this money has done anything but prolong a cycle of despair.
Ahmed, now 22, was taken from his family at the age of 12 by an armed group in the Lower Shabelle region. For five years, he was forced to fight, kill, and steal. ‘They gave us a gun and told us to shoot anyone who moved,’ he told me in a hushed voice in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu. ‘I don’t know how many people I killed. I stopped counting after the first one.’
Ahmed escaped last year during a battle and now lives in a makeshift shelter with 15 other former fighters. They share one meal a day, often nothing more than a bowl of lentils. His story is not unique. UNICEF estimates that 2,000 children are still used as fighters in Somalia, but human rights groups say the true number could be far higher.
This is the reality that British aid is meant to address. Since 2017, the UK has provided more than £1.4 billion to Somalia, making it one of the largest bilateral donors. The money has funded schools, health clinics, and security forces. But the country remains one of the world’s most fragile states. The government controls only a fraction of its territory. Al-Shabaab, the Islamist group that recruited Ahmed, still holds vast swathes of land and collects taxes.
‘The aid has kept the government alive, but it hasn’t made it a state,’ said Dr. Fatima Hassan, a Somali academic at the University of Nairobi. ‘It has created a culture of dependency while the underlying problems of corruption and clan conflict fester.’
The UK’s aid mission is now under review. The Foreign Office has signalled a shift from unconditional funding to more targeted support. But critics say that pulling back now would be a disaster. ‘If Britain leaves, the government collapses and al-Shabaab takes over,’ said James Richardson, a former British diplomat who served in Mogadishu. ‘The chaos would be worse than anything we’ve seen in Afghanistan.’
For Ahmed, the aid debate is academic. He has no hope of returning home. ‘My family is dead. My village is gone. I have nothing,’ he said, staring at the ground. ‘Britain sends money, but I don’t see it. I see only this camp and the next fight.’
The UK’s International Development Committee is due to publish a report on Somalia next month. It will likely recommend more oversight and a focus on building state capacity. But whether that is enough to change the lives of people like Ahmed is another matter.
In the meantime, Somalia’s failing state grinds on. The child soldiers keep fighting. The aid keeps flowing. And the guardians of British taxpayers’ money wonder if they are fuelling a nightmare they cannot end.
