The Hague probes child soldier issue in Darfur

UNITED NATIONS, Wednesday

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said he was looking closely at charges child soldiers have been used by militias in Sudan’s conflict-torn western Darfur region.

In December 2008, the United Nations children fund Unicef said up to 6,000 child soldiers, some as young as 11, have been recruited by rebels and government forces in Darfur. “We are monitoring the child soldier crimes,” ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in an interview.That’s a big deal and it’s possible that parties to the (Darfur) conflict use child soldiers.”

Mr Moreno-Ocampo said he had not yet decided whether to press for further indictments in Darfur related to allegations of child soldier recruitment. He is currently seeking the prosecution of six Sudanese men for crimes in Darfur, including President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

“Before we do any new case, I will inform the Security Council in advance of what are my plans,” he said. Mr Moreno-Ocampo will brief the Security Council on Friday on his activities related to Sudan. The prosecutor said he was also monitoring the spillover of the conflict in Sudan’s neighbour Chad and the treatment of people at refugee camps in Darfur.

Unicef has said it has evidence that all of Darfur’s main rebel groups used children, including the powerful Justice and Equality Movement and the faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur. The UN agency estimates that there are a total of 8,000 child soldiers in Sudan, 6,000 in Darfur and the rest in southern Sudan.