German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said Thursday he will seek an inquiry into whether the Somali government was using Berlin aid to train child soldiers. During a visit with German military forces at a base in Germersheim, dpa quoted Guttenberg as saying "it would be unbearable for us if they are training children as soldiers." The minister said this had been made "extremely clear" to the Mogadishu government and pledged that "we will also investigate correspondingly tough and clear, as far as this can be investigated." The German Bundeswehr is supporting the training of Somali soldiers in Uganda with six experts. A further seven were scheduled to be sent. Guttenberg said there was no knowledge of the training of child soldiers among the Somalis. Earlier, the German Foreign Ministry rejected a report in the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper that the Bundeswehr, or military, was training minors as soldiers in Africa. The ministry, in answering a parliamentary query, said the government had no evidence that there were any child soldiers among the Somali recruits receiving training under the framework of a European Union training missing.
