Army reportedly rescues 15 child soldiers

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) rescued 15 child soldiers who were serving under the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) about 30 km west of the Uganda-Congo border, the government owned ‘New Vision’ newspaper reported. It said that three other children were captured, three adult ADF rebels killed and their three AK-47 rifles recovered from them on Wednesday 1 August, raising the ADF death toll to more than 10 in less than two weeks. It quoted the army’s second division commander spokesman, Lieutenant Milton Katarinyeba as saying on Friday that the children were rescued in separate mop-up operations on the western slopes of the Ruwenzori mountains.

“When I was hit by the UDPF, my commanders whisked me away into our camp at Buhira (DRC) and the rest of my splintered arm was amputated by our medics,” the paper quoted 14 year-old Yusuf Kisoba as saying. The paper said the children were traumatised, malnourished and frail. The paper saw them at the 307 brigade base near Kasase town, western Uganda.