Kidnapped kids freed in Uganda
2005-04-07 14:07
Kampala - The Ugandan military said on Thursday it had freed 110 abductees, most of them children, held by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and killed 50 of LRA fighters in the war-ravaged north of the country last month.
"We rescued 110 people, mainly children, but also adults, who had been abducted by the rebels," said Lieutenant Kiconco Tabaro, the army spokesperson in northern Uganda.
"We also managed to kill 50 rebels," Tabaro said from the northern town of Gulu where the operations took place along with areas of Apac, Adjuman, Kitgum and Pader in the conflict-scarred north.
Two government troops were injured in clashes with the rebels, he said, adding that the military had also recovered numerous weapons, including assault rifles, landmines and a large quantity of ammunition.
Tabora could not provide the number of civilians killed during March but said that the LRA, which has become known for its brutality toward non-combatants in northern Uganda, had stepped up its campaign in the region.
The rebels killed and mutilated dozens if not scores of civilians last month, cutting off their lips, breasts and ears, he said.
Tabaro blamed the rise in attacks and raids on northern villages on the rebels' lack of food and also a bid to win publicity as the LRA carries on with its 19-year-old war against the government in Kampala despite halting peace efforts.
The LRA is fighting Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's secular government, ostensibly to replace it with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments.
But it is best known for its ruthlessness against the people of northern Uganda and in recent weeks has stepped up its attacks, killing and brutally maiming scores of people, including women and children.
The conflict has diplaced more than more than 1.6 million people from their homes who now live in squalid camps throughout northern Uganda.
The LRA swells its ranks by raiding camps for displaced people and kidnapping children living there, forcing the boys into combat, the girls into sexual slavery. More than 20 000 children are believed to have been abducted.