UGANDA: 160 rescued from rebels since January - army

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KAMPALA, 15 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - The Ugandan army has rescued 160 captives, most of them children, from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) since the beginning of the year, army spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, told IRIN on Tuesday.

"Between 1 January and 7 March we rescued 147 abductees," Bantariza said. "We also killed 185 rebels over the same period, while 54 of them were captured and 93 others surrendered to our forces."

Over 100 guns and 13,000 bullets were recovered from the rebels during that period, he added. Another 13 children were rescued and two rebel fighters killed in skirmishes with the LRA on Monday and Tuesday in the northern districts of Gulu and Apac.

The rebel group is notorious for its brutality, particularly to children, with relief agencies estimating that the LRA has abducted over 20,000 children since it started fighting in northern Uganda in 1986.

Meanwhile, up to 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were left homeless after a spate of fires over the past few days razed their huts. Andrew Timpson, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gulu, told IRIN that over 1,000 grass huts were burned to the ground last weekend.

"Fire has been the main concern in the past few days," Timpson said. "The International Committee of the Red Cross, in collaboration with the Uganda Red Cross along and the Norwegian Refugee Council has moved in to help the affected people."

The fires come just weeks after another wave of infernos displaced 6,000 IDPs in February and another 30,000 in January.

Northern Uganda has been terrorised by the LRA over the course of the rebel group's 19-year war against the Ugandan government, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and driven up to 1.6 million people from their homes, mainly in the northern districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Pader.

[ENDS]