Tamil rebels 'recruit children'

BBC NEWS | South Asia By Ethirajan Anbarasan : "The UN's child agency, Unicef, has accused Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels of stepping up child recruitment in the island's volatile east. "In June this year, there were 18 cases of child recruitment reported from the eastern Batticaloa region and in July so far we have received complaints of 28 cases in the same area," Jeffrey Keele, Unicef spokesperson, told the BBC.

Unicef's accusation is based on complaints from parents and reports from community leaders and teachers who had closely worked with the missing children. The UN agency has often accused the rebels of recruiting child soldiers over the last 10 years. In February the Tigers said there was no truth in a Unicef report that they recruited 4,700 child soldiers since 2001.

While Unicef officials say that child recruitment has continued throughout the year, the sudden increase is causing concern. However, they admit that not all children are forcibly recruited as some of them possibly join the rebel movement voluntarily. The issue of child recruitment has been a major point of difference between Unicef and the Tamil Tigers since a February 2002 ceasefire agreement between the rebels and the government.

But Unicef officials point out that their engagement with the Tamil Tigers has yielded positive results and more than 1,200 child soldiers have been formally released by the rebels in the last three years. A few weeks ago Tamil rebels reportedly released nine children from their custody.

But the UN estimates that the Tigers still have more than 1,000 children in their ranks, and officials say they will continue to press for their release. "