Former child soldiers in war-torn Somalia are being held in prison conditions in foreign-funded camps, "punishing" rather than rehabilitating them, the top U.N. children's envoy said Thursday.

"They are held in detention without due process," she told reporters in Kenya after a four-day visit to Somalia.

While some centers were treating children well, others were little more than prisons, she said.

War-torn Somalia is awash with guns after more than two decades of conflict, with a 22,000-strong African Union force battling alongside government troops against the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab.

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