AfricaNews political desk
The Justice and Equality Movement rebel group of Sudan is reaching an agreement with the United Nations to keep an eye on child soldiers. With the new deal, the UN would have access to their bases to remove children found in military areas. JEM said they have the interest of children at heart.
An estimated 6,000 children have been caught up in Darfur's unrest.
UNICEF, according to the BBC, has hailed the agreement, which took more than a year to negotiate, as a very valuable precedent which it hoped other rebel groups would follow.
Jem leaders, who have travelled to Geneva for the signing, said the movement had no child soldiers but that it was signing up to the agreement as a gesture of goodwill.
Fighting intensified in Darfur in May after Jem pulled out of peace talks with the government, accusing it of acting in bad faith.
The conflict between rebels and government-backed militias in Sudan's western region is estimated by the UN to have cost the lives of 300,000 people and driven 2.7m people from their homes.
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