A newly circulated video showing a senior figure from Sudan’s Al-Baraa Ibn Malik Corps addressing students inside a school has renewed accusations that the Muslim Brotherhood-linked group is exploiting educational institutions to mobilise young people and rebuild its political influence through the country’s war.
Activists who shared the footage said the commander was speaking to pupils at an unidentified school, amid mounting warnings over the future of millions of Sudanese children affected by the conflict.
Rights groups accuse the Al-Baraa Ibn Malik Corps, an armed Islamist formation fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces, of increasingly using schools for ideological mobilisation, political propaganda and recruitment.
The Sudanese National Observatory for Human Rights said commanders affiliated with the group had been allowed to move freely through educational institutions and target vulnerable children and students.
The organisation called for schools to be protected from military and political activity, warning against transforming classrooms into recruitment centres or platforms for wartime mobilisation.
Growing presence in schools
The Al-Baraa Ibn Malik Corps has expanded its presence inside Sudanese schools in recent months, raising concerns about the influence of one of the most prominent Islamist armed groups supporting the army in Khartoum and other areas.
The United States designated the group as a foreign terrorist organisation in March and later imposed sanctions on it, accusing it of fuelling the Sudanese conflict and maintaining links with Iran.
Concern over its activities intensified following several visits by its commander, Al-Misbah Abu Zaid Talha, to schools, where he reportedly delivered speeches glorifying war and encouraging students to support military mobilisation.
In one widely circulated video, Talha was shown honouring a high-achieving female student by presenting her with the corps’ emblem.
The group has been accused of serious abuses during the war, including executions, beheadings and the mutilation of bodies.
Observers say the group’s school outreach recalls policies pursued by Sudan’s former Islamist government during the 1990s, when thousands of students were mobilised and sent to fight in the civil war that eventually ended with South Sudan’s independence in 2011.
Islamist influence over education
After seizing power in 1989, Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked government worked to establish control over schools, universities, student unions and educational administrations.
The authorities used educational institutions to recruit supporters, promote Islamist ideology and reshape school curricula.
Education expert Hassan Abdel Mawla told Sky News Arabia that schools must remain protected from religious, ideological, political and military exploitation.
“Schools are not arenas for propaganda or mobilisation,” he said. “Involving students in these narratives violates the neutrality of education, undermines the development of critical thinking and citizenship, and exposes children to polarisation and extremism instead of proper education.”
He added that protecting schools was not simply an educational issue, but a national and legal responsibility essential to preserving children’s right to safe and independent learning.
Alleged recruitment campaigns
The Sudanese National Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented systematic campaigns by the Al-Baraa Ibn Malik Corps to recruit schoolchildren to fight alongside the Sudanese army.
Human rights advocates say such practices would constitute serious violations of international law and could further complicate accountability efforts while increasing the risks facing civilians.
International humanitarian law prohibits the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its related protocols restrict the involvement of children in hostilities, while Rule 136 of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s customary international humanitarian law rules prohibits armed forces and armed groups from recruiting children.
Sudanese lawyer and legal expert Al-Moez Hadra said the recruitment of children by Al-Baraa and other armed groups amounted to a grave crime under international law and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The convention explicitly prohibits recruiting children or involving them in hostilities, as such actions represent serious violations of children’s rights and international humanitarian law,” Hadra told Sky News Arabia.
The latest footage has intensified concern that Sudan’s educational institutions are being drawn deeper into the conflict.
Rights advocates warn that turning schools into platforms for religious, ideological and military mobilisation threatens an entire generation and undermines education’s central role in rebuilding peace and stability after the war.
