globeandmail.com: Rebel army resumes campaign of abducting child fighters in Africa: "JOHANNESBURG — The rebel Lord's Resistance Army appears to have begun a new campaign of abducting child fighters in central Africa, after balking at signing a peace deal earlier this month. The move raises fears that the group is planning to renew its decades-long insurgency and expand it beyond the borders of Uganda.
All of the abductions have occurred in remote bush areas. In the raid about which the most is known, rebel fighters abducted 99 men, women and children in Obo, a town in the southeastern corner of the Central African Republic, near the borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. The rebels moved into this largely lawless triangle two years ago, after five LRA commanders were indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. (Only two of those are still alive.) It is difficult to establish precisely how many people have been abducted - Amnesty International says it has evidence of 'at least 350' people abducted; the United Nations has put the number near 500 during the past three months, while the Ugandan military reported 200 people abducted in DRC early this month, and 55 in Sudan in late March."
All of the abductions have occurred in remote bush areas. In the raid about which the most is known, rebel fighters abducted 99 men, women and children in Obo, a town in the southeastern corner of the Central African Republic, near the borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. The rebels moved into this largely lawless triangle two years ago, after five LRA commanders were indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. (Only two of those are still alive.) It is difficult to establish precisely how many people have been abducted - Amnesty International says it has evidence of 'at least 350' people abducted; the United Nations has put the number near 500 during the past three months, while the Ugandan military reported 200 people abducted in DRC early this month, and 55 in Sudan in late March."
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