SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters - Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudi Arabia on US child soldiers list

18/6/19: Reuters - Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudi Arabia on US child soldiers list

 Reuters reports that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using underage fighters from Sudan in Yemen’s civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter.

 Instead of adding Saudi Arabia to the list, Sudan will be reinstated after being removed last year, three of the sources said.

 A spokesman for Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has contributed fighters to the Yemen war, said the force is affiliated with Sudan’s military. “Based on Sudanese laws, it does not recruit minors,” he said. He did not directly respond to a question on who controlled Sudanese forces in Yemen.