Bid to free child soldiers
2003-10-07 14:32
Colombo - Scandinavian truce monitors in Sri Lanka were trying on Tuesday to secure the release of children allegedly abducted by Tamil Tiger rebels amid reports that 23 boys had been taken away.
The Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said it was trying to arrange a meeting between Tiger leaders and parents who had protested for the release of the children.
"We are awaiting some information from the area," said the monitors' spokesperson Agnes Bragadottir. "We don't have any numbers at the moment. We have informal reports from the parents."
The monitors on Monday quoted residents from the towns of Valachchenai and Kalkudha as saying the Tigers had snatched 15 children, but returned three of them.
Police and military sources in the area also said they had information the Tigers took 23 boys to swell their ranks in the eastern province, which had been a favourite recruitment ground for underage soldiers.
The children were taken away barely 24 hours after the Tigers ceremonially released 49 boys and girls in their political headquarters of Kilinochchi, 330km north of Colombo, to a halfway home organised by Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund.
The latest abductions came despite repeated assurances from the Tigers' leadership that the rebels were not interested in a "baby brigade".
The Tigers made a 1998 pledge to the UN special representative on children armed conflict, Olara Ottunu, not to recruit child soldiers.