wfn.org | ACNS3631 Ugandan rebels strike again

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3631     |     UGANDA     |     16 OCTOBER 2003

Ugandan rebels strike again

by Matthew Davies

Despite efforts by the Church Mission Society to raise awareness of the
shocking realities of child abduction and the 17-year war in Northern
Uganda, violence is still wreaking havoc throughout the nation. Armed rebels
from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have struck again, rounding up 22
people in a bar in the Lira district and shooting them dead.

The Church Mission Society (CMS) launched a campaign on 21 August by
delivering a petition to Downing Street asking Tony Blair to "help break
what local churchmen have dubbed an 'international conspiracy of silence'
over the LRA's brutal reign".

The current conflict in northern Uganda began soon after the National
Resistance Army (NRA) of President Museveni took power in 1986. Remnants of
the previous government's forces fled into northern Uganda and southern
Sudan and formed the Ugandan People's Democratic Army (UPDA). Several
splinter groups began emerging out of the UPDA and the story of the LRA
began, originally named the Lord's Salvation Army, then the United Christian
Democratic Army and finally the Lord's Resistance Army.

The worst victims of the situation are the youth, who are the most
productive age group and the hope of the region. The LRA are responsible for
the abduction of thousands of children and more than 20,000, some as young
as seven, are being used as soldiers, labourers and sex slaves.

According to Human Rights Watch, an organisation dedicated to protecting the
human rights of people around the world, Ugandan government forces also
recruit children who are intended to provide security for local villages or
camps. Unfortunately, many do not return to their home areas and are
reportedly used to fight against the LRA.

CMS, which has been working with the Kitgumi people since 1904, announced
that there are 800,000 people - 75% of the population of northern Uganda -
who now face starvation in so-called 'protected camps'.

The recent attack comes less than a month after the rebels killed 10 people
in a market. Uganda and Sudan have renewed an agreement to work together to
flush out the LRA.

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