Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

DRC-UGANDA: LRA torture of civilians continues
17 Jul 2009 11:41:24 GMT
Source: IRIN
NAIROBI, 17 July 2009 (IRIN) - The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is continuing to kill and kidnap civilians in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the UN.

In the first fortnight of July alone, the Ugandan rebel group carried out 33 attacks in the districts of Upper and Lower Uele, killing 26 civilians and abducting 144, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Six of those abducted were children. The LRA has a long history of boosting its ranks by kidnapping children, forcing boys to fight and girls into sexual slavery. On 12 July, DRC troops clashed with LRA fighters in the area, freeing one abducted child, the report stated.

Fifteen children abducted by the LRA on the night of 14 July were freed a few hours later after local self-defence groups took on the Ugandan rebels, according to Radio Okapi, which is run by the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC).

Following an assault by Ugandan troops in December – mounted after Joseph Kony, the LRA leader and International Criminal Court indictee, yet again failed to sign a peace deal - the rebel group went on the rampage in northeastern DRC, killing more than 1,000 civilians.

The LRA "remains a serious security challenge that will require the sustained commitment of all governments and UN missions in the sub-region, if the group is to be effectively contained and neutralized", Alan Doss, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the DRC, said in a 10 July report to the UN Security Council.

Citing DRC army figures, Doss also noted that a military operation against the LRA had met with some success, with 109 fighters killed and 115 arrested as of late-June. The LRA is also active in Southern Sudan and the Central African Republic.

am/mw

Related articles: LRA reprisal attacks in northeast http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84787 Thousands flee rebel attacks http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84618 Tormented by the LRA http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82872 Civilians flee LRA "revenge attacks" http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82588

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  International Humanitarian Law

•  Children

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Uganda violence

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Pakistan: Rights of the displaced key concern as return gains momentum
World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe/ Central Asia

•  Rights of the displaced key concern as return gains momentum
World Vision - USA

•  Congo: Oxfam scales up emergency aid
Oxfam GB - UK

•  Pakistan: displaced people returning home must be safe and have access to food and basic services
ICRC - Switzerland

•  Pakistan: time to go home?
Oxfam GB - UK

MORE >>

Latest news

•  DRC-UGANDA: LRA torture of civilians continues

•  Q+A:Kenyan politics transfixed by court controversy

•  Keep Guantanamo open, Sept. 11 families say

•  Children from conflict hit areas in Pakistan urgently need life-saving health services

•  Nepal to free child soldiers from Maoist camps

MORE >>
IRIN news

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-17T090020Z_01_DBG210_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-XINJIANG_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DBG210.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-16T221601Z_01_HND302_RTRIDSP_2_HONDURAS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/HND302.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-16T043310Z_01_MEX51_RTRIDSP_2_MEXICO-FIRE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MEX51.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-16T043036Z_01_MEX53_RTRIDSP_2_MEXICO-FIRE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MEX53.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-07-16T042849Z_01_MEX50_RTRIDSP_2_MEXICO-FIRE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MEX50.htm

An ethnic Uighur woman begs for money next to her sick child outside the Yang Hang mosque in the city of Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region July 17, 2009. Security ...



Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Fri Jul 17 11:42:14 2009