<b>Fear of LTTE conscription causes move to Colombo</b>

Kalinga Weerakkody - The Island

As LTTE continues to recruit children as child soldiers in the eastern province, Tamil parents have taken steps to send their children to Colombo and suburbs and estate areas, information received from East said.

Information received from east said that so far the LTTE has recruited more than 1000 child soldiers aged 16 and over from the east.

Sources said that most of the children have been abducted by LTTE had been given armed training in Kanchikudichichiaru main base located six kilometers away from the ‘Roopaskulam’ camp in the Kanchikudichchiaru forest.

Sources said that following the spate of inquiries made to the LTTE by the parents of the conscripted children about their whereabouts the LTTE has informed them that their children joined the LTTE according to their own wish.

In order to prevent the LTTE from recruiting children for their organisation the parents have now decided to get the children married as early as they reach their marriageable age, as the LTTE’s conscription and training are limited to the unmarried.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the Ampara district has so far recorded more than 100 complaints made by the government and LTTE of violating the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on February 22.

The head of the SLMM in Ampara Erkki Platan told ‘The Island’ yesterday that more than half of the complaints had been made against the LTTE by Tamil people in the area following child conscription.

Of them around 20 written complaints had been received by them.

-The Island -