Rows of grinning boys thrust their rifles skyward, their thin arms struggling with the weight of large weapons. Some appear no older than twelve, yet they brandish their firearms with apparent glee, barrels flashing in the sun. An adult leads them in a thunderous chant, his deep voice cutting through their pre-pubescent squeals. "We stand with the SAF," he roars, and the children squawk back in unison.
The Disturbing Social Media Campaign
Shot on mobile phones and disseminated across social platforms, these clips depict newly mobilised child fighters aligned with Sudan's government forces, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The adult in the video resembles a teacher conducting a class, beaming at the children who gaze at him adoringly as he thrusts a fist into the air. Yet this charismatic figure is leading them toward almost certain death, not education.
Here, the SAF's war is not concealed but paraded openly, sold as a potent mix of national pride and military power through carefully curated social media content. The latest Sudanese civil war erupted in April 2023 following years of escalating tensions between two armed factions: the SAF and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
A Brutal Conflict's Youngest Recruits
What began as a political power grab has deteriorated into full-scale civil war, devastating cities, burning neighbourhoods, and displacing populations while hunger follows closely behind. Both sides bear responsibility for atrocities, with the RSF accused of mass killings, systematic rape, and widespread theft. The SAF presents itself as Sudan's national army but was shaped during decades of Islamist rule where religious faith and military force were tightly intertwined and dissent brutally suppressed.
That oppressive system did not disappear when former President Omar al-Bashir fell from power. It persists through officers and allied militias now fighting this war, staining the nation with their own catalogue of crimes against humanity. As the conflict drags on and adult combatant numbers dwindle, the army increasingly reaches for the most vulnerable and easily manipulated recruits: children.
Verified Violations and Chilling Evidence
The United Nations' latest monitoring report on 'Children and Armed Conflict' identifies multiple groups responsible for grave violations against children, including the recruitment and use of minors in fighting. This reporting verified 209 cases of child recruitment and use in Sudan during 2023 alone, representing a sharp increase from previous years.
Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, provide disturbing evidence of this trend. One video shows three visibly underage boys in SAF uniforms grinning into the camera while singing a morale-boosting song typically reserved for frontline troops. Another features a youth mouthing along to a traditional Sudanese melody repurposed as recruitment theatre.
Even the Most Vulnerable Are Targeted
A particularly chilling clip shows two armed youths – linked either to the SAF or its Islamist ally, the Al-Baraa bin Malik Brigade – chanting a Sudanese Islamic Movement jihadi poem while hurling racial slurs at their enemies. More distressing still is footage of a small boy, visibly disabled and no older than six or seven, strapped into a barber's chair.
An off-camera adult voice feeds him words as a walkie-talkie is pressed into his hands. The child attempts to mouth pro-SAF slogans, beaming as he raises his finger in the air, clearly unaware of what he's saying. This demonstrates that even those who cannot carry rifles are being recruited for propaganda purposes.
The Reality Behind the Propaganda
Photographs obtained from Sudanese sources reveal further disturbing realities. One image shows a boy lounging inside a military truck with a belt of live ammunition hanging around his neck and a heavy weapon resting beside him. He stares at the camera with a flat, empty expression – neither scared nor excited, simply present.
Another photograph depicts a line of boys standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the desert, dressed in loose camouflage while an officer barks orders. They stand stiffly with eyes forward, receiving instruction on how to kill. Elsewhere, a teenage boy poses alone with a rifle slung over his shoulder like a badge of honour, wearing a half-smile that suggests the weapon makes him someone he wasn't before.
The Deadly Consequences of Recruitment
In Sudan, this recruitment strategy proves tragically effective. The SAF and allied groups gain numerous recruits through such photographs and footage, which present warfare as lighthearted fun where noise and laughter mask mortal danger. A rifle raised triumphantly in the air doesn't yet smell of blood in these carefully staged moments.
But behind the clips lie checkpoints, ambushes, and relentless shellfire. Boys who carry guns are sent where men fall, deployed variously as fighters, runners, lookouts, or porters. All are placed directly in death's sights, with few spared from harm. International law is unequivocal: using children in warfare constitutes a grave crime. SAF generals know these laws yet ignore them openly, with evidence not buried in reports but publicly posted, shared, and viewed across social platforms.
A Generation Shaped by Conflict
Wars that feed on children never end cleanly. They don't cease when shooting fades, for a boy who learns to shoot for the camera cannot simply return to childhood. The conflict sinks into his psyche, shaping him until it ultimately claims him. Yet for now, the boys in these videos continue shouting with apparent joy, rifles raised high toward the sky, unaware of the grim fate awaiting them beyond the camera's frame.
