IV. Forced recruitment by the belligerents after the opening of hostilities

There have been reports of forced recruitment since the start of the war. For the time being, these forced recruitments appear to be carried out by the RSF. However, there is nothing to suggest that the SAF and its allied groups do not engage in this type of recruitment.

Yhjrv Cities With the Highest Number of Recruitment Camps

Map 2: Cities with highest number of recruitment camps, open-source data.

Forced recruitment by RSF in West Darfur

Below is the testimony of an activist from the West Darfur Activist Group, an SHRH partner, about the forced recruitment of children by the RSF during t he attack on the town of Ardemata, near El-Geneina, on 8 November 2023.

“Eyewitnesses reported that over a hundred young people were seized from the city and transported to unknown locations, approximately a day's journey from Al-Geneina. During the journey, the captors exhibited brutal behavior, including threats and verbal abuse towards the children. Movement was restricted, and any attempt to resist or speak out was met with violence”.[…] Upon arrival at the militia's compound, the children endured harsh conditions and strict regulations. They were provided with minimal sustenance, with some going an entire day without food. Additionally, they were given uniforms

On January 23, 2024, we interviewed a child who was kidnapped from Al-Geneina in West Darfur. […] The child stated that there were many children, some of whom were arrested and others kidnapped from Ardmata during the attacks. We asked the child how he managed to escape. He explained that on December 17, 2023 around 8PM Sudanese local time, during Esha prayers, when everyone went to the mosque to pray, he took advantage of that moment to run out of the camp of the Rapid Support Forces, but the child said he didn’t know the place in that location. He went to someone's house, grabbed some clothes, and escaped.

We then asked the child how he made his way to Adra [town in Chad where the chill has been interviewed]. He said that he walked throughout the night and around 5 am he reached the city of Furbaronga. While passing through the city, he saw a car and people getting in. He approached the driver and explained that he had been kidnapped by the RSF in Al-Geneina and needed help to return to his family. The driver offered him a free ride to [destination].

From there, he found people who travel to Chad daily and explained his situation to one driver who agreed to give him a free ride. On February 10, 2024, around 5 pm Chadian time, he arrived at the Adre camp in Chad and was reunited with his family. However, he still suffers from the trauma of his experience.

A CNN investigation published on 19 March 2024 reported corroborated the forced recruitment in the state of Gezira, where RSF led a successful offensive in December 2023.

They seized the capital Wad Madani, and a large part of the state. CNN identified 700 men and 65 children recruited by the RSF, and, according to CNN, witnesses report highly coercive recruitment methods including: "intimidation, torture, summary execution and the withholding of food and medical aid".

[A photo showing the popular Mobilization posted on 9 April2024 in Al-Dabbah, Northern state, Facebook(coordinates)]

[A photo showing Mustanfrin camps of the martyr, pilot Lieutenant Colonel Omar Saber Kashkis , Al-Dabbah, Northern State, Facebook (coordinates)]

Forced recruitment by SAF and its allies

As of the end of March 2024, the Sudanese Armed Forces control eight states in northern and eastern Sudan, where there is no fighting at the time of writing. ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project) notes that fighting between the SAF and/or their allies (armed groups, whether or not signatories to the Juba Agreement, who have rallied to the SAF, Islamist, militias, local self-defense militias) and the RSF took place in February and March in five states: Khartoum, West Kordofan, North Kordofan, al-Gezira, Northern Darfur (El-Fasher). The largest events took place in Omdurman, Bahri and Khartoum.

The recruitment of children by the SAF seems to have taken place after the outbreak of war and was not immediately documented. Testimonies from young recruits collected by SHRH attest to this.

Saf

Map 3: SAF recruitment camps, open source data.

Nyala, South Darfur

For example, children taken prisoner by the RSF in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and freed thanks to the action of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), indicate that they were recruited as spies before the RSF completely took over the town in October 2023.

During an interview made in August 2023 by Ayin, a 12-year-old schoolboy, Omar [only the first name is given to protect the child's identity], told Ahmed how he was approached in July 2023 by a lieutenant colonel= “whose shoulder bears a falcon and a star” from the 16th Infantry Division (SAF). Omar had become at this time a shoeshine boy to help his family support itself as schools were all closed. The officer asked him to "carry out an enemy vehicle statistic on the northern side of the city, which had been controlled by Rapid Support Forces since the beginning of the war in exchange of money in each intelligence operation”, he tells SHRH. On the first day, he counted the number of combat vehicles in the cinema district, as instructed by his immediate commander. At the end of the day, he received ten thousand pounds ($10). Omar was sent to various neighborhoods but was arrested by the RSF after only four days, along with other children recruited by the same intelligence services, as they were sneaking in the middle of RSF soldiers in a market in the northern part of Nyala, trying to find out what kind of armaments RSF had. He was held for a week before being released through the mediation of the ICRC.

In an interview with SHRH, Major Abdullah Othman, legal adviser to the RSF in Nyala, said that they had released 41 army soldiers, 34 of them were minors, captured in April 2023 during the battle to liberate the Western Command on Airport Street in Nyala. He accused the SAF of using the children as scouts, cooks, porters, messengers and guards.

Recruitment of mustanfareen (‘reserve volunteers’) in the Eastern and Northern States

In the eastern and northern states of the country (Northern State, River Nile, Kassala, Gedaref, Sennar, West Kordofan), the SAF launched a vast mobilization campaign in December 2023 to bolster the ranks of the national civil resistance. The reserve volunteers (mustanfareen) are trained and armed. According to a human rights activist now in exile (who prefers to remain discreet about his identity), no distinction is made as to age at the time of recruitment, and young people aged eighteen and under join these militias.

“They don't even ask if you are eighteen years old. If you are 15 years old, they will give you a weapon and ammunition, just if you come and say, ‘I'm ready to fight”.

The Islamists, who back the army, play a very important role in recruiting mustanfareen, including very young volunteers under 18. “As I travel around the states of Gedaref, Kassala, and River Nile states, I see a lot of 15- and 16-year-olds volunteering," says Abdallah, an engineer turned driver. “It's the leaders affiliated with the former National Congress who are behind these recruitments.”

One Islamist group in particular is active, the al-Baraa ibn Malik Katiba, led by al-Musbah Abu Zaid Talha. “They recruit people of all ages, including children," says the exiled researcher and human rights activist. This old armed militia group belongs to the Islamists, and was reactivated after this war started. They have re-emerged and are taking leadership in the fighting with the army in almost all those operations. This militia was disbanded by the Hamdok government in 2020. Today, it is participating with others in the SAF offensive in Omdurman.

[Speech on Al-Arid news network of the Commander on 20 February 2024 of the 12th Infantry Division, Major General Hatem Hassan Al-Tayeb, to the mustafareen in the attack course.]

Al Gezirah state

[A video posted on Facebook by the Popular resistance in Al Manaqil city, Al Gezirah state on the 26 April 2024 showing the Graduation of a new batch of “mustanfareen”.]

Northern State

[A video from Facebook showing the training of mustanfareen in Al-Ghaba, Northern state. “A recruitment camp for the Sudanese Armed Forces”.]

River Nile State

[A video From the visit of the Assistant Poet of the Armed Forces, Muhammad Ali, to the first Al-Karama camp in Al-Musikatab, Shandi, River Nile state.]

Kassala State

[A video of a visit of the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, to the “Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement forces camp in Kassala State”.]

Port Sudan

[Another video shared on X on 24 February 24 showing a graduation of mustanfareen in Port Sudan Stadium, Red Sea state. The number of mustanfareen now exceeds six thousand mustermen in Port Sudan locality according to the Governor of Red Sea State, Mustafa Mohamed Nour, YouTube]

Omdurman, Khartoum State

[A photo showing a boy in Military survey operation on 26 March 2024, Telegram]

In this video that appears to have been shot in Omdurman, a boy walks with an assault rifle next to a masked man who praises their action: “no one was able to reach this area but now we are the owners of the place” says the man. These images, shot on 26 March 2024, show the SAF advancing into Omdurman, in areas previously under RSF control. The presence of a child soldier seems to be a value. The child is described as a "lion cub, son of this lion."

Child soldiers in Sudan : The future at stake.

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