Rebels abduct 20 in northern Uganda

Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) abducted 20 people in a village in Kitgum, northern Uganda, on Tuesday night, barely a day after President Yoweri Museveni's tour of the area. Media sources in the area told IRIN on Thursday army officers were in pursuit of the rebels who they said may have crossed over to neighbouring Sudan. "When the number is that big, if caught, they can use the abductees as human shields," the media source said. Analysts say the attack could be a way of the rebels letting the government know they "still exist" and have not "changed their stand". An LRA spokesman told the BBC the group believed Museveni was not genuine in his recent amnesty offer. "This is not surprising," presidential adviser John Nagenda told IRIN. "It just shows the kind of people the LRA are. They are killing, maiming and abducting their own people."