'A war against children'
2004-08-18 13:39
Berlin - Unicef's programme director for Uganda, Pirkko Heinonen, issued an urgent appeal on Wednesday in Berlin for the world community to take action to protect children in the conflicted region of northern Uganda.
In a presentation in Berlin, she said that "more than any other, this forgotten war is a war against children".
Heinonen said that in the past two years, the rebel army led by Joseph Kony had abducted 12 000 boys and girls and was using them as child-soldiers.
She said that Unicef findings had shown that every night, nearly 60 000 children are fleeing their villages to try to find shelter in nearby cities to avoid being abducted.
The Ugandan rebels, operating from bases in southern Sudan, force the children to serve in the military and carry out murders and other gruesome acts, the Unicef official said.
She noted that Kony's forces, estimated at up to 5 000 fighters, constantly needed reinforcements. For this they carry out repeated attacks on refugee camps, where the refugee population in the region by now numbers about 1,6 million people.
Unicef's efforts in the region include providing overnight shelter to threatened children and to give medical and psychological treatment to those child-soldiers who manage to escape. - dpa
- SAPA