Emmanuel Jal: Child soldier to hip-hop star

As a child soldier in Sudan, Emmanuel Jal was firing a gun when he was just nine. In an extraordinary turn of events Mr Jal swapped his AK47 for a microphone and is now an international hip-hop star.

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Emmanuel Jal was a child soldier during the brutal Sudanese Civil War in the 1990s - where government forces in the predominantly Muslim North fought rebels in the South. Taken from his home, he was beaten, brainwashed, and trained by the rebels to fight. After four years of fighting he managed an epic escape to create a new life.

Mr Jal was sent to train to be a soldier at the age of eight by his father, who was the rebels Chief of Police. The training was brutal. He survived the training and was given a gun - ready for revenge.

Mr Jal and the other boys had been groomed to feel a sense of camaraderie to fight for each other. At first the violence was exciting.

Memories from childhood can be hazy and some have disputed Mr Jals claims. But he says after four years of fighting he escaped the rebel commanders in the dead of night. He and 400 other child soldiers fled. If they were recaptured they would have almost certainly been killed. The boys trekked for three months across the country - facing starvation.

One of the escapees managed to reach a village and raise the alarm. Mr Jal says only 16 of the 400 boys survived.

Mrs McCune was married to Mr Jals uncle - the rebel leader Riek Machar She died in a car crash shortly afterwards so Mr Jal had to make his own way as a teenager in the Kenyan slums but something saved him. As a way of dealing with the trauma he had experienced he started rapping and discovered hip-hop.

In 2004 his debut album was a hit in Kenya. The single appeared on a UK charity album and he played at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concerts.

In the last decade Mr Jal has travelled the world performing and sharing his experiences through his music with the likes of Alicia Keys and Nelly Furtado. He uses his music to be a political activist and peace advocate.

Mr Jal is one of the lucky ones. According to the UN, tens of thousands of children have been recruited as child soldiers across 20 countries this year alone.

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