Opening Statement

War is defined as a state of armed conflict between different nations, states or groups.
In times of war when a group is in desperate need, they will draft people into the war.
There’s a lot of different reasons for war such as, expansion of land, need for natural
resources, or overthrowing a corrupt government, etc. War affects everyone. However,
different social groups are affected differently. Children are easily manipulated because
they do not have a sense of what is right or wrong in the world. Children are influenced
by what others say to them. They’re easily persuaded and obedient because children
tend to be followers due to them not having a complete understanding to certain
situations. Child soldiers are children used for military purpose. Children often get
separated from their family during war, making it easy for military groups to tell them to
avenge their families by killing the other side. In the northeastern part of Africa there
were two different ethnic groups that had tension. The Kani tried to seize land in
Shansau which was currently under rule by the Lago. As a result, many Lago people left
their homeland to escape persecution. Mabo’s father was murdered by a Kani police
officer who later became the general of Troua’s army. Arthur Mabo had to flee his
home, or face persecution for being Lago. As soon as he was able to, he lead a group
back to Shansau to fight for their homeland. Children were seen as soldiers, however,
Mabo was rarely seen with these kids. It was more of his second-in-command’s
responsibility to be in charge of them. Mabo is not guilty of conscripting and enlisting
child soldiers, having children actively participate in armed combat, or the death and
suffering of Alia Rutu’s son because Charles Yitu was in charge of the children. Mabo
was unaware of the crimes the children were committing.

The prosecution is going to say that command responsibility makes Mabo in

charge of all the crimes him and his subordinates make. However, if the commander is
unaware of what is going on, these laws do not apply to him. Mabo thought that the
children were going to the camps for shelter and safety. There was no reason for him to
think that the children were fighting. The prosecution is going to use Anna Kobolo as
evidence to prove that children were being used. Mabo only met her one time and did
not see her fight. The one time that Anna was around Mabo, was when she was serving
him food. There was no way that Mabo would have seen Anna as anything other than a
servant, let alone a soldier in his army. Anna is going to say that Mabo pointed a gun at
her. Although this is true, people need to realize that Mabo was under a lot of stress and
he has grown up with war all around him. Pointing a gun at her was just a reflex due to
being startled and the stress and paranoia that war creates in people. We expect the
prosecution to use Thomas Gaba to testify that he was used as a child soldier. The only
problem with this is that Gaba lied about his age to get more respect which is easily
what other kids in the camp had done. We expect the prosecution to use Patrick
Bateman to testify seeing children participate as soldiers. Though there were children
there, not once during Bateman’s year long trip did he ever meet Mabo.

To sum up, Charles Yitu is the perpetrator of these crimes, the child soldiers are
lying about their age to join the PFLS, there is no evidence that Mabo ever saw the child
soldiers and the war has made Mabo paranoid while he fights for a just cause.

_______________________________
Questions for Bateman

1. Who are you?

2. Who do you work for?
3. Who did you meet when you went to the camps?
4. How did you meet her?
5. Did she meet Mabo?
6. Did Mabo ever hurt Anna?
7. So he didn’t force her into anything by himself, right?
8. How often did she see him?
9. Did you ever meet him?
10. Is it possible that Mabo wasn't the one conscripting the children if he was rarely
seen with them?
11. Because the second-in command was in charge of the kids more often than
Mabo, is there a possibility that Mabo shouldn’t take these charges if his second
in command is getting away with it?
12. Can you prove that Mabo was in charge of ALL the child soldiers you saw?
13. Have you been to Africa before?
14. Is there a possibility that the child attacked you because they were afraid of a
foreigner coming into their homeland and saw you as a threat?
_______________________________
Questions for Mabo

1. How old were you when you started military training camps?
2. When did you complete this military training?
3. Why did you go back to your village?
4. What is your job as a commander?
5. What was the job of your 2nd in command while you were gone?
6. Who do you trust the most in your group?
7. Did your second in command ever tell you who he was training?