Darfur refugees in Chad decry allegations of child recruitment by JEM

June 23, 2008 (LONDON) – The leaders of 13 Darfur refugee camps in Eastern Chad denounced a report by a British organization on child recruitment.

Earlier this month the London-based human rights group Waging Peace, said in a report that refugees from the Darfur conflict as young as nine years old are being sold to armed rebel groups including Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) as child soldiers.

In a statement signed by the camp leaders published on JEM website they rejected the information contained in the report saying that it “bears no relevance to reality”.

“The allegation only exist in the sick mind of the government [Sudanese] and NGO’s falsely labeled as humanitarian groups” the leaders said.

The statement said that one of the camps called Rutba which was mentioned in the report does not exist in Eastern Chad.

“JEM never forcibly recruited any refugee from our camps that we manage let alone enlisting children or trading them” the statement read.

JEM officials were outraged by the report and alleged that it is part of a campaign directed against them.

The Darfur rebel group declared its intent to file a lawsuit against a British organization over a report alleging that they recruited child soldiers.

The issue of child soldiers in Darfur rebel groups came into the spotlight following a surprise attack on the Sudanese capital last month. The Sudanese government managed to repulse the attack and accused Chad of backing JEM in its attempt.

Hundreds of people were arrested after the attack including 89 children who the government said JEM had used as soldiers and showed them on national television.

International experts also say more than 300,000 were killed and 2 million have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, a region that is roughly the size of France.

(ST)