Nepal rebel group denies recruiting child soldiers

August 25, 2000
Web posted at: 10:38 a.m. HKT (0238 GMT)

KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) -- A left rebel group, which is campaigning to overthrow Nepal's decade-old constitutional monarchy, has denied that it employs child soldiers in armed conflicts.

"We want to make it clear that no child soldier has been recruited in any unit of the People's Army," Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) leader Prachanda said in a statement which was released Thursday.

Prachanda said his group was refusing to recruit even those children who had expressed their willingness to join his outfit.

The Maoist statement comes after Amnesty International, other human rights groups and the Nepalese government criticized them for recruiting child soldiers for conflicts.

Amnesty International recently sought an "immediate end" to the recruitment of child soldiers by the rebels.

About 1,400 people have been killed in conflicts related to the Maoist insurgency which began in several remote and poor districts in early 1996.

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