KATHMANDU, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A top United Nations envoy urged Nepal's Maoist-led government and its former rebel army to release thousands of former child soldiers still languishing in Maoist camps.

The world body estimated last year that there were nearly 3,000 "Maoist army members less than 18 years of age" in U.N. supervised rehabilitation camps for ex-rebels.

The Maoist army has said it recruited children for support services during the decade-long civil war.

"Today they are still in the Maoist cantonments and they must be released immediately," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

The camps were set up as part of a 2006 peace deal between the government and the Maoist rebels to oversee the rehabilitation of the guerrilla fighters after a civil war that killed 13,000 people.

Coomaraswamy said in a statement that U.N. officials should be granted access to the children to ensure their rights to recovery and reintegration are respected.

Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who still uses his guerrilla nom de guerre Prachanda, was elected the country's prime minister this month, four months after the Maoists' surprise victory in constituent assembly elections.

The government was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Alex Richardson)

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