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Uganda: UNICEF deeply concerned by abduction of children as ceasefire breaks

Uganda: UNICEF deeply concerned by abduction of children as ceasefire breaks

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The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today expressed deep concern over reports of renewed abductions of children and women by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) following the recent breakdown of a ceasefire in northern Uganda, and called on all parties to the conflict to do everything in their power to secure the immediate release of all kidnapped.

The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today expressed deep concern over reports of renewed abductions of children and women by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) following the recent breakdown of a ceasefire in northern Uganda, and called on all parties to the conflict to do everything in their power to secure the immediate release of all kidnapped.

“Thousands of girls and boys snatched from their families remain unaccounted for,” UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said in a statement. “These children are often forced to commit atrocities against their own communities and to fight alongside their captors. They have been brutally used as human shields and sex slaves.”

Ms. Bellamy said that an estimated 20,000 children have been abducted since the conflict began – more than 5,000 in the last year alone. UNICEF fears that the increased fighting may further reduce access to the estimated 800,000 displaced people, causing a rapid and significant rise in child mortality and malnutrition, she said.

“This intensification of the armed conflict will make more vulnerable an already exhausted civilian population in an area plagued by conflict for the past 16 years,” Ms. Bellamy stressed. “Furthermore, the broadening of military operations is a setback to hopes for peace at this crucial time when efforts were underway to establish a peace process.”

Ms. Bellamy urged both the Government and the LRA to renew efforts for dialogue, agree on a ceasefire, and guarantee safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all of northern Uganda.

“Every resurgence in the fighting brings renewed expressions of concern from governments and a wide range of national and international organizations. But these concerns have yet to be transformed into a constructive peace process,” she said, calling on the parties to the conflict to do everything in their power to secure the immediate release and return of all of the abducted children and women.