Gov't-backed Sri Lanka group agrees to free 62 child soldiers: UNICEF

COLOMBO, Dec. 4 Kyodo -
An ethnic Tamil paramilitary group that supports Sri Lanka's government in its
fight with the Tamil Tiger rebels has agreed to release 62 more child soldiers,
the U.N. Children's Fund or UNICEF said Thursday.

The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil Peoples Liberation Tigers), which
broke away from the mainstream Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in 2004,
also inked an agreement with UNICEF and the Sri Lankan government earlier this
week setting up a three-month timetable for an action plan to reintegrate child
soldiers back in society, UNICEF said.
''This agreement shows a clear political commitment and is a very important
step in putting an end to the recruitment and use of children by the TMVP,''
said Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF's representative in Sri Lanka.
''The action plan must now be translated into concrete actions on the ground
which will then lead to significant results for children in the very near
future,'' he said.
The TMVP, led by ex-rebel commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, better known
as Col. Karuna, broke away from the LTTE in March 2004, triggering fierce
fighting between the two factions.
Both factions have been accused by UNICEF in the past of not taking seriously
their public assurances that they are not recruiting child soldiers.
UNICEF figures show there were 133 outstanding cases of child recruitment by
the TMVP at the end of October while the LTTE is accused of having 1,500 child
soldiers.
In September, the Sri Lankan government ordered U.N. agency staff out of
rebel-held northern regions as fighting between troops and rebels escalated.
''As a result, UNICEF has since been unable to receive and verify cases of
child recruitment since that time,'' UNICEF said.
The U.N. agency says thousands of underage fighters have been recruited in Sri
Lanka, the vast majority by the LTTE, since a 2002 ceasefire in the
three-decades-long civil war broke down in 2006.
==Kyodo