Uganda: 10 000 more street kids
2005-05-22 21:00
Kampala - Renewed fighting forced 10 000 more children onto town streets in war-ravaged northern Uganda during April, according to a United Nations children's agency report.
Children fleeing abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army, which had resumed attacks, joined 30 000 who were already sleeping on the streets, under shop verandahs and in bus parks,
UNicef said.
"A political deadlock and intensified LRA attacks in recent weeks following the expiry of a ceasefire have contributed significantly to the maintenance of the high numbers of internally displaced persons," it said in the report published on Saturday.
"Children took to the relative safety of urban centres, and the number rose to 40 000 in April from 30 000 in March."
Government in December engaged in contacts with the LRA to end the war which has displaced over 1.5 million people. But the rebels refused to sign a draft ceasefire.
The rebels have been abducting thousands of children whom they force into their ranks.
Girl abductees are turned into sex slaves, and 80% displaced are children and women, according to UNicef.
It said over 20 000 children had been taken captive by the LRA since 1986, and 3 500 children who escaped captivity last year passed through the trauma treatment centres.
The number of children born in captivity was not known. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA