Africa: There Are Better Ways for Pretoria to Assist Juba Than Military Cooperation

press release

John Guangwap Thiep was asleep when South Sudanese soldiers burst into his home in Mayom county in July 2016, determined to snatch him away from his family and friends. They had come to recruit him, alongside dozens of other local youths, into South Sudan's feared armed forces. He was 16 at the time and wasn't given much of a choice. "Some of us were very young," John told me in December. "The youngest looked like he was 10 ... They were crying ... But if you cry too much, the soldiers beat you."

Now, South Sudanese soldiers and commanders responsible for the forcible recruiting of thousands of other children and other grave human rights abuses may be eligible to receive training from South Africa.

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