Over 80 children freed from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) by government forces were handed over to rehabilitation agencies in Gulu on Friday. World Vision country director in Kampala Kofi Hagan told IRIN today (Tuesday) that his organisation’s counselling centre had received 54 of the children. They are to receive psychological and nutritional help before being returned to their communities. “Often the children are in very poor shape. They are very malnourished, have rashes all over them, are poorly dressed and some have bullet wounds,” Hagan said. Many of the girl captives suffer from sexually transmitted diseases. Among the 80 children rescued by the army last week, 17 were taken to hospital for treatment. The abducted children were among an estimated group of 300 LRA rebels that recently crossed into Uganda from Sudan.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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