Saudi Arabia recruited child soldiers from Darfur to fight against Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to a new shocking report by the New York Times.
Almost all of the Sudanese fighters recruited by the oil-rich kingdom appear to have come from the impoverished and battle-scarred region of Darfur.
The new report goes on to claim that Saudi Arabia used its oil wealth to outsource the war, mainly by hiring tens of thousands of “desperate survivors of the conflict in Darfur to fight, many of them children.”
The majority of the fighters are said to belong to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who were blamed for the systematic rape of women and girls, indiscriminate killing and other war crimes during Darfur’s conflict.
Sudanese militias are commanded by Saudi and Emirati military officials “via remote control,” as they want to keep a safe distance from the front, the bombshell report said.
One unnamed soldier who fought near Hodeidah said Saudis and Emiratis “treat the Sudanese like their firewood.”
Yemen has been dogged by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sana’a, forcing the government to take up temporary residence in the coastal city of Aden.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia and several of its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.
