Darfur group denies using child soldiers

KHARTOUM, Sudan, June 17 (UPI) -- A Darfur rebel faction fighting the Sudan government says it's filing suit against a British human rights group over allegations of child soldier recruitment.

The Justice and Equality Movement was singled out in a report issued earlier this month by Waging Peace, a human rights organization based in London, which reportedly said it had filmed evidence to support its claim that JEM was losing support among Darfurian refugees in Chad because it allegedly accepted abducted boys as young as 9 as soldiers.

JEM officials, however, say they are outraged over the report and claim it's part of campaign against them, the Sudan Tribune reported Tuesday.

"All the information contained in this report is absurd, false and baseless," Suleiman Sandal, JEM's deputy chief of staff, told the newspaper. "Since the foundation of JEM we never recruited children in our ranks. Our movement is in full conformity with Geneva convention prohibiting enlistment of children as soldiers."

The newspaper said JEM led a surprise attack on Khartoum last month, which the Sudanese government managed to repulse. The allegations from Waging Peace came after 89 children were among the hundreds of people arrested by the government after the attack.