JEM decries unfair accusations of child soldiers

July 4, 2008 (DUBLIN) — The Justice and equality Movement (JEM) once again denied accusation by a British human rights organization that his group recruits child soldiers. The group minimized the report saying it is unfair and partial.

JEM was singled out in a recent report on child soldier recruitment published by Waging Peace which said it has footage shot in refugee camps in eastern Chad to support its claim that JEM was losing support among Darfuri refugees because it accepted into its ranks boys who had been abducted and trafficked from the camps.

Abdullahi El-Tom, the head of JEM training and strategic planning told the Irish time that Waging Peace did not speak to JEM troops on the ground during their research. “I don’t think the investigation was fair or balanced,” he added.

Last year the UN estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 child soldiers had been forcibly recruited in Chad, where some 250,000 Darfuri refugees languish in camps. Dr El-Tom said the report was “totally unfounded and false”. “We don’t have a shortage of volunteers, so we do not need to use any children.”

The recruits were mostly between nine and 15, the report said.

Waging Peace executive director Louise Roland-Gosselin said the group had not received any communication from JEM since the report was published.

“While Waging Peace’s recent report highlighted the recruitment and trafficking of child soldiers on the Chad-Sudan border by a number of parties including the JEM, Chadian rebel groups, Sudanese Janjaweed militias and Chadian authorities, the strongest evidence we collected related to the forced recruitment of child soldiers by the JEM,” she said.

(ST)