|
About Us | Country Profiles | Themes | International | Home |
|
.::c.a.c.u::. |
| .::Contact Us::. |
| You are in: Home > News Stories |
 |
News Stories
 By Aung Hla Tun January 20, 2006 LASHIO, Myanmar, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta has accused an ethnic Shan militia which has been waging a guerrilla war for decades of forcibly recruiting child soldiers as young as 13. Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan said 48 fighters of the Shan State Army (SSA) (South), in the east of the country, had surrendered or been captured at the start of January. Of several teenagers in the group, the youngest, a private called Soe Naing, was 13, he said. "What we are saying is not a groundless accusation," Kyaw Hsan told reporters and diplomats on a government trip this week to Lashio, 600 miles (950 km) northeast of Yangon. "Private Sai Yi of the SSA (South), who surrendered in 2005, admitted that SSA members were murdering the relatives of newly recruited youths so that the new members had no attachments to their relatives and didn't dare desert," he said. Diplomats and reporters were given access to around 30 of the SSA fighters, including Soe Naing, who was dressed in brand new military fatigues and who described how he had ended up in the guerrilla ranks. "Our village head handed me over to the SSA (South) over a month ago," he said. He had never been to school, he added. SSA commander Sai Htoo, who led the surrendering group, said the rebels generally recruited fighters aged between 18 and 40, but boys in their early teens were enlisted if older conscripts were unavailable. "Depending on the size of villages, each village has to send four or five recruits," Sai Htoo said. "There are not many members who joined of their own will. Therefore, they flee whenever they get the chance." In 2002, Human Rights Watch accused Myanmar's junta, which has been fighting several ethnic minority militias for years, of recruiting an estimated 70,000 child soldiers. Many were forced to commit atrocities against ethnic minority civilians, the New York-based group said. The military, which has run the former Burma in various guises since 1962, denied the allegations. According to a U.N. report released last year, 42 armed groups in 11 nations were guilty of recruiting or using children in war. The countries named were Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Colombia. Spokesmen for the SSA (South) were not immediately available for comment. URL: page url |
|
|
WARNING: The Children and Armed Conflict Unit is not responsible for the content of external websites. Links are for informational purposes only. A link does not imply an endorsement of the linked site or its contents. |
© 1999- The Children and Armed Conflict Unit