Tigers release child soldiers

2005-07-18 10:43

Colombo - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday said they released nine child soldiers to their parents amid mounting international criticism for recruiting underage combatants.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the nine children had joined the guerrillas' ranks after giving "false information" about their age. They were later identified during screening.

The nine children were handed over to their families on Sunday in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, they said in a statement posted on their website. No further details of the recruits were given.

Child rights activists have said the Tigers recruited fewer child soldiers this year after coming in for criticism from international rights groups.

Freeing

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) claims the LTTE recruited 137 children in the first four months of this year while freeing 37. Among those recruited were nine children displaced by the December 26 tsunami.

The recruitment this year compared with 368 boys and girls enlisted during the corresponding period in 2003 and 259 last year, UNICEF spokesperson Geoffrey Keele said.

London-based Amnesty International said a split in the LTTE in March last year saw the deployment of child soldiers, both boys and girls.

The recruitment of child soldiers is seen as a violation of a truce deal entered into by the government and the Tigers in February 2002.

The ceasefire itself has come under intense pressure following a spate of clashes in the island's restive east.

Three decades of fighting in the Sinhalese-majority island claimed more than 60 000 lives before the truce went into force.

- AFP