Lakes state police force underage girl from classroom to marry a soldier
May 29, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudanese police forced a 17-year-old girl in Lakes state’s Wulu county from her classroom to marry a soldier against her will on Tuesday, local people and witnesses told Sudan Tribune.
Rebecca Atong Madang refused her parents demands and an order by local police to marry a man named as Dut Meen, who is reported to be a soldier in the sixth division of the South Sudanese army (SPLA).
One of the girl’s relatives is alleged to have beat the girl when she refused to marry the man.
The headmaster of Morngenyi primary school, where Rebecca is in her eighth year, tried to stop the forced marriage, standing up for her right to decide who she wants to marry.
Describing Atong as a “most brilliant student” he said that her future would be brighter if she was not forced to married a man she does not like.
An eyewitness told Sudan Tribune that the headteacher only let the girl leave the school after the police threatened to arrest him. The girl’s refusal to marry the man meant that she was beaten and locked in a room at her parents house, local sources say.
The South Sudanese government has remained silent over the many instances of forced and underage marriages in Lakes state.
Young men in Lakes state complain of high bride prices and accuse government officials of marrying underage girls.
High bride prices are one of the causes of conflict in Lakes state where cattle raiding from neighbouring counties and across the state border in Unity and Warrap is common.
Dowries are often paid with money, honey and cattle in Wulu county, which has a history of violence against girls who refuse to marry men chosen for them by their parents.
The previous month 15-year-old Adut Makur Matak broke into tears as she told Sudan Tribune how her parents are attempting to force her to marry a man over twice her age. “I don’t love this man – this is first time I see him in all my life” she said.
A girl from Rumbek North county was beaten to death in February 2011 by her uncle’s son in a dispute over her forced marriage. The girl is reported to have been killed after she demanded to be given ivory jewelry, a symbol of marital status in Dinka culture, before the wedding. The marriage had been negotiated by the families with a dowry of 80 cattle agreed to be given to girl’s family.
The murdered girl, Agok Monyman Apach requested her parents to be given ivory and other traditional marital gifts before she was handed over to her future husband. The gifts are given to honour the girl and confirm her new social status in Dinka culture.
The girl’s cousin, Kamic Mabuong Apach, is accused of killing her after she refused to marry the man before she received the traditional gifts.
In previous incidents of girls being killed and beaten by their relatives, the government did not intervene either to protect the girl or to enforce the parent’s decision. The police’s intervention on the side of the family rather than the girl on Tuesday appears to be first time this has happened in Lakes state.
(ST)