Dublin, Oct 11: The political leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels has denied accusations by the UN agency for children that the group has been abducting youngsters and enrolling them in its armed forces. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who demand self determination in the north and east of Sri Lanka, yesterday ended five days of internal talks in Ireland focusing on a power-share plan ahead of a final peace deal for the embattled South Asian island. "We consider these allegations to be based on wrong facts, wrong reporting, and a biased campaign of misinformation and disinformation," LTTE chief Paramu Tamilselvan told journalists at a final press conference near Dublin, referring to the UN claims. Earlier in the week, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) accused the rebels of having kidnapped children in eastern Sri Lanka, only days after the UN group opened its first transit home in Sri Lanka to demobilise underage soldiers. Tamilselvan said children who had lost their families in decades of bloody conflict were joining the tigers on their own initiative.
"If the organisation throws them out onto the street, they would become subject to various abuses. We don't want that to happen," he added.
Bureau Report