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Report: Pompeo Dismissed Experts to Keep Saudi Arabia Off Child Soldiers List

Pompeo reportedly overruled recommendations from experts within the department’s anti-human trafficking office.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly overruled experts to block the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. list of countries that recruit child soldiers. Sources cited by Reuters on Tuesday said the department had recommended Saudi Arabia be included on the list based on reports that the country had hired child soldiers from Sudan to fight for the U.S.-backed coalition in Yemen. Other State Department officials claimed it was unclear if the Sundanese or the coalition had control over the child soldiers, however. Instead of putting Saudi Arabia on the list, the department is reportedly planning on putting Sudan back on the list after it was taken off last year. Colonel Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the coalition, said the allegations of child soldiers being used are “completely incorrect and are not based on any evidence or factual findings.”