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Uganda: 'LRA Won't Free Children in Captivity'
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The Monitor (Kampala)
29 June 2007
Posted to the web 28 June 2007
Samuel O. Egadu & Caesar Mukasa
Kampala
THE Lords Resistance Army rebels recently said they would not release children and women under their captivity.
LRA's second in command Vincent Otti said all those under captivity will come out with them (rebels) after the signing of the final peace agreement between the LRA and the government. "Releasing children for what? Have they been in prison? The children we have here (bush) are ours. They were born in the bush," he said.
However, the government has appealed to the rebels to release all people under their captivity against their will.
Deputy leader of the government delegation in the Juba peace talks Okello Oryem recently said, "It's the wish and prayer of the government for the LRA to release all people under their captivity against their will."
"The LRA should release the children so that they go back to school," he said.
A recent report documenting violence in the two-decade conflict in northern Uganda between the LRA and the government forces shows that as many as 38,000 children and 37,000 adults have been abducted and forced to join the insurgents.
The report, "Abduction: the Lord's Resistance Army and Forced Conscription in Northern Uganda," was compiled by researchers from the University of California Berkeley's Human Rights Centre and Tulane University's Centre for International Development.
Uganda Human Rights Commissioner Veronica Bichetero Eragu on Friday reportedly met Otti in a bid to secure the release of women and children.
Mr Otti said the children who were abducted by the rebel's outfit are now adolescents and some have become fathers. "We don't have children here. Those whom we abducted are no longer children. Some of them are now adolescents and others are fathers," Otti said.
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He said the rebels would continue with the peace talks as they wait for The Hague based International Criminal Court to drop its indictments against four LRA high commanders.
LRA leader, Joseph Kony, Otti, Okoth Odiambo, Domenic Ogwen and Raska Lukwiya are wanted by ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"The indictments in The Hague are the major obstacle to the peace process. We shall continue with the talks as we wait for ICC to drop the charges," Otti said.
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