Rebels in northern Uganda have abducted a record number of children since government forces launched an offensive against rebel bases in southern Sudan a year ago, a human rights organisation said on Friday.
In a report on child abductions in northern Uganda, Human Rights Watch said rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army have abducted some 5 000 children since last June, compared to 100 children in 2001.
”The increase in abductions is dramatic and alarming,” said Jo Becker, author of the report. ”More children have been taken in the last 10 months than in any previous year of the conflict.”
The New York-based group estimates that in the LRA’s 16-year insurgency against President Yoweri Museveni’s government, the rebels have abducted 20 000 children to use as child soldiers, sex slaves and laborers.
The report said the LRA abducted more children last year when Uganda, with the agreement of the government in neighbouring Sudan, launched ”Operation Iron Fist” against LRA bases there, driving the rebels into northern Uganda where heavy fighting ensued.
The abducted children were forced to kill children who tried to escaped and were later caught, the report said.
Mark T., a 17-year old boy who was abducted in August 2002, said he witnessed or participated in the killing of eight children who tried to escape the LRA during the time he was with the rebels.
”Of them, two were hacked to death with machetes and six were clubbed or trampled. We were either made to participate or watch the killings. The youngest recruit killed was maybe nine or 10 years old,” Mark T. said.
The report, ”Stolen Children: Abduction and Recruitment in Northern Uganda,” also said the Ugandan army recruited children into local defence units, trained them and some even fought with the Ugandan army.
Edward T., 18, said the Ugandan soldiers tried to lure boys into joining the army by offering them money and benefits, but he refused.
”One boy, 16, accepted, and he immediately started training at the barracks with other soldiers. He was moved from us and kept in better quarters,” Edward T. said.
The report, which is based on interviews with children who recently escaped from the LRA, said the Ugandan government and the LRA should, ”comply with international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of children as soldiers.”
It also said the UN Secretary General should appoint a special envoy to seek the release of the abducted children.
On March 1 the LRA declared a cease-fire, and on March 10 the Ugandan government declared a cease-fire in five designated areas in two northern Uganda districts. But fighting has continued. – Sapa-AP