Abu Karshola , December 4(Darfur24) Local sources in the eastern countryside of Abu Karshola revealed an escalation in forced recruitment campaigns carried out by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N), a claim denied by SPLM-N leaders.
Local sources told Darfur24 that members of the movement abducted dozens of boys from the villages of Qadim, Mabsoot, Al-Hujair, Kalang, Riba, Hallat Al-Katar, Tunis, Darash, and Al-Murib. They noted that some of those abducted were underage boys as young as 12 to 15 years old.
The sources indicated that the campaign began on November 23rd without any voluntary recruitment, a move described as inhumane.
The sources confirmed the abduction of Yusuf Yassin and Al-Siyahi Adam Huwairi, along with a displaced youth known as Wirwir, and others from villages in the eastern countryside. They were taken to areas under the movement’s control east of Abu Karshola.
According to residents, the recruitment campaigns have led to a widespread exodus of young people and families who fear losing their sons. Dozens have fled to the areas of Sidra, Al-Samih, Al-Hujairat, Al-Zafaya villages, Abu Kershola, and Al-Abbasiya, in an attempt to escape the movement’s recruitment campaigns.
Meanwhile, residents explained that the humanitarian situation is becoming increasingly complex in villages located on the border between areas controlled by government forces and the SPLM-N, where entire communities are living in a state of anticipation and fear of sudden recruitment campaigns.
For his part, Arno Ngutulu Lodi, First Secretary of the Civil Authority of the New Sudan, previously denied the existence of forced recruitment campaigns in SPLM-N areas. In a statement to Darfur24, he said, “Recruitment in the SPLA is not carried out through forced campaigns to enlist young people, but rather through the volition of anyone who wants to defend the citizen, protect their property, and liberate the Sudanese people from the ruling clique that has been in power since the so-called independence.”
Ngutulu added that “what is being circulated on social media about recruitment campaigns launched by the movement is a strategy and a systematic campaign carried out by the Islamists to tarnish the reputation and demonize the SPLM-N and attempt to obscure public awareness.”
In the same context, Jatiga Amoja Dalman, head of the media committee of the National Liberation Council of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), told Darfur24 that the movement has sufficient, trained, and capable forces and does not need conscription.
He added, “The movement’s forces have accumulated experience, having fought the Sudanese army in all its formations since June 6, 2011, using only active military force”.
Dalman stated that talk of conscription is merely propaganda launched by military intelligence and the propaganda outlets of the Islamist movement to intimidate citizens who have decided to leave army-controlled areas and head to areas controlled by the SPLM-N, as he put it.