UN peacekeepers in South Sudan reported Thursday that opposition forces are occupying Lich University College in Bentiu, Unity State, complaining that the forces should not be occupying an educational institution.

Speaking at a briefing in New York yesterday, the UN spokesman said the UN Mission in South Sudan has raised this issue with the opposition authorities. 

They reminded them that the use of educational institutions for military purposes is a violation of international humanitarian law, according to the spokesman.

Lich University College was founded in May 2010 as part of the capacity training programme for education managers, sponsored by the World Bank and the Multi-donor trust fund.

Until the conflict broke out in December 2013, the semi-public college had offered certificates and diplomas for people working in the state public services, NGOs and oil companies.

File photo: Soldiers in Bentiu, 12 January 2014 (AP/Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin)