16 LRA captives freed with Sudanese help

The Sudanese government has facilitated the release of 16 Ugandans, abducted by the rebel Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), an official for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told IRIN on Thursday. “We have so far recieved 16 persons, 12 children and four adults, all of them Ugandan nationals, from the Sudan authorities. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is dealing with documentation and tracing,” Nance Webber, a communications officer with UNICEF Khartoum, said. Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Amama Mbabazi said UNICEF had not officially informed the government about the releases. “UNICEF has not informed us officially about the release of the children, who have been held in Sudan, but we welcome the news,” he told IRIN. The Ugandan authorities estimate that there are 2,000 children being held in southern Sudan by the Sudan-backed LRA. Tension between Uganda and Sudan eased after the signing of a peace accord between the two countries in Nairobi, Kenya, last month. Uganda has already released 72 Sudanese prisoners of war. The two countries are expected to re-establish diplomatic links after they were broken three years ago over accusations they were supporting each other’s rebels.