Sudanese Government Recruiting Students To Fight Rebels

Halting education to wage war

Khartoum, Sudan – Ahmed Ehemir balances two large plates stacked with pancakes on a tea table at the headquarters of Sudan's national students' association. "This is our breakfast," he said, a good-natured grin lighting up his young face.

Two weeks ago, Ehemir was fighting rebel militias in Abu Kershola town in South Kordofan—a province bordering South Sudan which, since the end of April, has been the theatre of intensive fighting between rebel forces and government troops. He spent one month fighting alongside the regular army and the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), a militia backed by the regime.