UNICEF asks Maoists not to recruit children

[Dennis Perrin]

> KATHMANDU: Maoist rebels should stop recruiting children to fight in their
> seven-year guerrilla war against Nepal's government, and both sides should
> address the issue of childrens' rights at upcoming peace talks, a top
UNICEF
> official said on Tuesday.
>
> Rights groups have accused the rebels of kidnapping and recruiting
children
> from schools in the remote mountainous villages of this Himalayan kingdom
to
> serve in a conflict that has killed more than 7,000 people since 1996 . .
.
>
> The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao
> Zedong, have been fighting to abolish the constitutional monarchy and
> establish a socialist state in Nepal.

Kidnapping children at gunpoint and forcing them to fight? Now that's
socialism!

DP