Tigers reject UN charges over child soldiers

"We totally reject the accusations levelled against us about recruiting children for war," the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan said on the Tamil nitharsanam.com website.

Thamilselvan said the UN should send a representative to discuss the issue with them.

"We believe the United Nations would study them (the allegations) and take a fair decision. We are prepared to join and work with any organisation that is acting in a practical manner for the welfare of our children," he said.

Thamilselvan said if children volunteered for enlistment were underage, they were returned to their parents. "As far as we are concerned, those coming forward to join our ranks, if they are found to be children, are sent back to their parents," he said.

His remarks came ahead of a debate next Wednesday in the UN Security Council on Secretary General Kofi Annan's report on children. The LTTE is included in a list of groups that could face sanctions, including a travel ban.

Annan's allegations about the Tigers' child recruitment came in a report entitled "Children and Armed Conflict.

"The LTTE has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of the children," Annan said.