Army rescues 117 from rebels

2005-06-17 15:01

Kampala - Government forces have rescued 117 people — most of them children — during the past 45 days from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, the army spokesperson said on Friday.

The rebels, whose 18-year insurgency has displaced about 1.5 million people, have abducted thousands of children. The boys are turned into child soldiers and the girls into sex slaves.

In a routine briefing, army spokesperson lieutenant colonel Shaban Bantariza said government forces killed 121 rebels, captured 34 and forced 47 others to surrender. Ten government soldiers were killed and 22 injured, he said.

"We inflicted heavy causalities on the enemy. Those people who were rescued were mostly children and some others were infants who were born in the bush," Bantariza said.

Bantariza's claims could not be independently verified and the rebels have little contact with the outside world. Attempts to start peace talks with the shadowy group, which operates from southern Sudan, have been largely unsuccessful.

- AP