Economic and social disintegration are the other reasons for the child soldier problem. There were not nearly as many child soldiers 30 years ago, even in Africa. Today child soldiers are most prevalent in Sierra Leone, Liberia, West Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Uganda to a lesser extent. Sudan has a very extensive problem. Not all African countries have child soldiers.
Some countries are either at peace or have relatively well-organized militaries.
No self-respecting military would use children. It's a sign of desperation or breakdown of society, and of the military itself. Few people are more repulsed by the notion of child soldiers than the regular military in most African countries. It's a larger problem of how you bring peace to these countries. You can't address the child soldiers issue independent of these larger questions.