Mixed reactions have trailed the wedding between two South Sudanese teenagers, Buomkuoth Wiyual and Nyabuay Thiol Biel. 

Wiyual, 16, and his 15-year-old partner Biel got married on December 18, 2021 in Gambella, Ethiopia.

The ceremony was reportedly graced and blessed by both parents and religious leaders.

According to local media, the legal age to get married in South Sudan is 18.

The young couple’s wedding photos have been making the round on Facebook with many condemning the arranged marriage.

One John Ndungu blamed the parents and religious leaders who supported the marriage. He wrote;

“I blame the parents and the religious leaders. They’re supposed to be role models and mentors to young generations. Some parents are so materialistic, I say this because the girl’s parents I’m very sure were after the dowry which in Sudanese culture is hefty amount of money or herds of cattle,” he wrote. 

“Where will the teens start life from? No education completed I’m sure. How will they take care of themselves in terms of basic necessities? No job, no money, education cut short, I pity the girl #NyabuayThiolBiel, she will be made a mother at very tender age. No mother experience and all that.

“The organizing committee failed them too, look at the trouser Buomkuoth is wearing, it’s short , too short on his wedding day putting on a trouser like that surely? And the bride bleached the face alone and forgot other body parts.”