To be sure, the rebel forces are often no kinder, and banditry is rife.

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But elsewhere, impoverished militia groups appear to be reverting to old ways - turning to banditry and extortion.

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In recent weeks, activists have mounted an online campaign accusing Ahmed Afash, a prominent commander based in Aleppo, of banditry and kidnapping.

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Banditry is a charge that carries a death sentence in Zimbabwe.

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But Estonians worry about lawlessness, even banditry, spilling over the border.

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Mr Kabila, in charge of a vast country, can do little to suppress the Mai Mai or the other groups who use the chaos in the Kivu provinces to turn to banditry.

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Odiambho Joseph, from the BBC's Swahili service, says banditry has been on the increase recently and in the last year several Kenyan policemen have been attacked and killed by suspected Islamist militants from Somalia.

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Some are simply the result of large-scale banditry.

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Britain has trained many Sierra Leonean soldiers in the past but most of them, finding no decent government or state to serve, either mounted a coup, joined the rebels or simply used their training for banditry.

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