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JUBA, Southern Sudan (AP) — Five hundred cows, two luxury automobiles, $10,000, two bikes, a watercraft, and several cellular phones made up the selling price in a hot putting in a bid war for a young child bride in Southern Sudan that went viral after the auction ended up being revealed on Facebook.

It will be the dowry that is largest ever compensated into the civil war-torn country, the us government stated.

The bidder that is highest had been a guy 3 times the 17-year-old’s age. At the very least four other males in Eastern mail order bride Lakes state competed, stated Philips Anyang Ngong, a person legal rights lawyer whom attempted to stop the putting in a bid final thirty days.

One of the bidders ended up being their state’s deputy governor.

Previously this month, Nyalong became the person’s ninth spouse. Photos posted on Facebook show her sitting near the groom, using a luxurious gown and staring despondently during the flooring.

The AP is making use of just her name that is first to her identity.

Southern Sudan features a deeply rooted social training of spending dowries for brides, frequently by means of cows. In addition features a long reputation for son or daughter wedding.

Despite the fact that that training is currently unlawful, 40% of girls nevertheless marry before age 18, based on the un Population Fund. The training “threatens girls’ life” and limits prospects because of their future, stated Dr. Mary Otieno, the agency’s nation representative.

The putting in a bid war has caused regional and worldwide outrage.

It took a few times for Facebook to get rid of the post that first pointed out of the auction, and after it had been removed other posts “glorifying” the specific situation stayed, George Otim, nation manager for Arrange Overseas Southern Sudan, told the AP.

” This barbaric usage of technology is similar to latter-day servant areas. That a woman could possibly be sold for wedding in the planet’s biggest social media website in this day and age is beyond belief, ” he stated. The auction had been talked about, perhaps maybe not completed, on the webpage.

Facebook did not respond to an ask for remark.

While Southern Sudan’s federal federal government condemns the training of kid wedding it claims it can not control communities’ social norms, particularly in remote areas.

“You can not phone it putting in a bid as though it had been an auction. It isn’t putting in a bid. With european eyes you’ll call it an auction, ” government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the AP if you see it. “You’ve got to view it by having an eye that is african because it’s a tradition that extends back a huge number of years. There isn’t any expressed word because of it in English. “

Some regional lawmakers and activists disagree. The National Alliance for Women Lawyers in South Sudan called upon officials to comply with the government’s plan to end child marriage by 2030 in a statement released this week. Closing the training includes placing a stop towards the auctioning of girls.

Southern Sudan’s anti-human trafficking chief called the situation similar to other people he’s got seen around the world, for which girls are forced or tricked into wedding after being told they’re going to live with family members and instead go to school.

“It is obvious that some peoples trafficking methods are concealed inside our culture, ” John Mading stated.

In other situations, some girls whom mature within the Southern Sudanese diaspora are cut back towards the country and forced to marry. The AP talked with a few individuals who understand girls whom arrived for just what they thought ended up being a secondary, simply to have their passports taken away and forced into wedding by their own families.

“Some families want kiddies to marry inside their nations plus in their cultural communities, but the majority take action in the event that kids are misbehaving, ” said Ikere that is esther Eluzai undersecretary for South Sudan’s ministry of gender.