The situation and causes of the conflict in Darfur have been documented elsewhere at www.child-sponsorship.com. By its very nature it is difficult to obtain accurate figures for the number of child soldiers on both sides of the conflict, however figures from 2006 suggest that there were around seventeen thousand child soldiers serving in government forces, armed militia and various rebel groups, including up to five thousand in the Sudan People's Liberation Army alone.

This Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) often recruited these children, the youngest as young as six, from refugee camps in the area. Some were abducted, others lured by the promise of education in southern Sudan after the end of the conflict. Others were simply going about their daily business when they were taken. One young teenager  describes how he became a child solder:

"I am a shepherd. Some people came to me and asked me to come with them. They took three sheep and I asked for payment. They said come with us and we will give you the money. They slaughtered one of the sheep. There was no money. They hauled me into a four wheel drive, they tied me up until we reached the desert, eventually they untied me and I waited for a chance to escape." But there are no escape, just enforced enlistment.