Residents in the Central African Republic (CAR) appealed on Monday for international help to curb cross-border rebel raids in which more than 150 children and adults people have been kidnapped.
An open letter said the worst incident was in March when rebels calling themselves the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) looted and burned down houses in the south-east and kidnapped 157 locals, 50 of whom children, some as young as six.
The victims of the mass kidnap had never been heard of again. But the letter said locals had information that the kidnapped boys had been forced to join LRA armed groups and girls were ”serving as sex slaves”.
The protest group, from Haut-Mbomou, the south-eastern border area affected, appealed for international help to back government efforts ”to implement solutions to provide lasting security for the region and rescue all those who have been kidnapped”.
”Of all the atrocities carried out against the population of Haut-Mbomou region, those of March 6 and 7 were particularly cruel and murderous because they consisted of looting and burning down homes, huts, granaries and shops and kidnapping children and young people of both sexes between age six and 30,” said the letter, made available in Bangui, capital of the CAR.
The LRA has been held responsible for years of atrocities including torture, rape and the murder of civilians, including children, since it started operating in northern Uganda 20 years ago.
The LRA also has bases in Sudan, which lies between Uganda and the Central African Republic, and marauders have been attacking the south-eastern region from Sudanese territory.
After the attacks on March 6 and 7, the government reported that the kidnap victims had been made to work as porters then gradually released as the marauders left the area.
LRA rebels say they are fighting for the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. — AFP
