Armed South Sudan Group Kidnaps 89 School Boys During Exams

89 school boys, some as young as 13-years old were kidnapped by an armed group in South Sudan. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, officials believe the kidnapping is intended to convert the young men into fighters. The area were the boys were kidnapped is highly dominated by government armed forces and militias. UNICEF reported the kidnapping. Previously, the Human Rights Watch had accused the government of recruiting child soldiers.

The region has remained in chaos, when in 2013 a war between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), and much of the army separated into varying factions, due to political conflict.

A South Sudan UNICEF representative said the recruitment of child soldiers “destroys families and communities.” The children are exposed to horrid levels of violence and death, making the chances of rehabilitating to a normal way of life very difficult, if not impossible. Human Rights Watch said government forces may be behind the kidnapping, since the military has openly and actively been seeking child soldiers in the Malakal area.

Government officials and representatives of nearby rebel groups have denied trying to recruit children to fight.

During a visit to Malakal just last month, Human Rights Watch reported 25 accounts of active child recruitment from families and friends of those who escaped the military training camps. The group said government forces led by President Salva Kiir, not rebel groups, are behind the larger numbers of child recruitment and can face war crimes for their continued actions.

South Sudan UNICEF representative, Jonathan Veitch, is urging the armed group to release the children immediately and safely. The agency said using children in the act of war is a “grave violation of international law.”