Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown yesterday called the South Sudanese general who allegedly forcibly recruited hundreds of schoolboys in Upper Nile State a “terrorist” and “warlord.” He was speaking at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, where he is currently serving as UN Special Envoy for Global Education.

“It has been one month since the kidnapping of 89 South Sudanese boys from their classrooms to train then as child soldiers,” he said. “The tragedy in South Sudan with schools being militarized and over 12,000 children abducted to serve as child soldiers must be stopped.”

UNICEF has said it is "confident" that the children were taken by an armed group led by Johnson Olony. 

Pressed by a journalist to comment further on the case, Brown later added, “They were seized by a warlord. They were seized during the examinations that they were taking inside the school precinct... the children who were abducted from the school are only 12 to 15 years old.”

“I said they were sitting exams. The latest information is that the terrorist group have offered to allow them to sit their exams as long as they can then take them back as child soldiers in the future. So we are dealing with a cynical, hypocritical group of people who are using these children as weapons of war,” said Brown, according to video posted by Inner City Press.

Brown may have been unaware of the formal relationship between Johnson Olony and the South Sudanese national government, and that the alleged 'child abductions' were part of a broader conscription drive carried out ahead of a government offensive launched more than a week ago.

“The relationship between him and the authorities... I don't know the answer to that. But I do know they were seized by a warlord.”

Multiple military and government officials including Defense Minister Kuol Manyang told Radio Tamazuj that Johnson Olony is formally a major-general in the national army, the SPLA.

However, Olony's forces have previously been called a 'militia' (or 'armed group', in the case of a UNICEF press release), because Johnson Olony himself only joined the national army in 2013 while many of his officers and men were integrated more recently.

Army and defense officials claimed that they summoned Olony to army headquarters in connection with an investigation into the allegations but he never showed up as he was reportedly busy at the front. A military source told Radio Tamazuj last week that Olony was involved in coordinating the offensive to capture Manyo County from SPLA-IO rebels. Presidential Guard forces were involved in the same offensive. 

Related:

Defense minister says he directed Malong to summon Olony (18 March)

Factbox: South Sudan's General Johnson Olony (28 Feb.)

Militia accused of child abductions 'is part of S. Sudan army' (24 Feb.)