Free child hostages, LRA asked
2007-08-26 21:00
Kampala - The United Nations children's agency UNICEF on Saturday called for a speedy release of hundreds of children held captive by Uganda's Lords Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents.
The agency said up to 1 500 children were being held hostage by the LRA, a shady cult-like guerilla organisation that has been fighting a 20-year bloody rebellion with the government in northern Uganda.
UNICEF in a statement urged all parties engaged in efforts to peacefully resolve the armed conflict, "to ensure that the official return home of children and women still associated with the LRA, estimated to number 1 500, remains a top priority".
The LRA has been abducting thousands of children whom they forced to fight and commit atrocities.
The UN and other charities estimate that about 25 000 children in all, including 7 500 girls, were abducted by the rebel organisation in its war campaign.
Sex slaves
Abducted girls were used as sex slaves and often give birth to children in the bush.
The LRA, which is now based in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, denies abducting children and insists that the children and the women with them are their own offspring and wives.
The head of UNICEF in Kampala, Keith McKenzie, said in the statement: "We are ready for the children and women to come home.
"It is time that they come home. We will help them go back home and back to school. They have been away for far too long."
The agency's call comes shortly before the first anniversary of the landmark ceasefire agreement, signed on August 29 2006 between the government and the LRA, a month after the start of peace talks mediated by Sudan.
The negotiations have been disrupted by disagreements and postponed time after time, delaying the signing of a final peace agreement to end the war that has displaced nearly 2 million people. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA