Sharp decline in human rights in north, report says

[[Subscribers please note this item replaces earlier Uganda story ("Rights group calls for end to child abductions") which was written by mistake and is now withdrawn]] Renewed fighting between government forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) over the past year has led to a sharp increase in human rights abuses in northern Uganda, a coalition of local and international human rights organisations said on Tuesday. In a 73-page report entitled "Abducted and Abused: Renewed War in Northern Uganda", the coalition said abductions, torture and forced recruitment of child soldiers had escalated since the Ugandan army launched its military offensive (codenamed "Operation Iron Fist") against LRA bases in south Sudan in March 2002. About 8,500 children and thousands more adults have been abducted by the LRA since June 2002, the report said. The fear of LRA abduction has further driven an estimated 20,000 children to commute at night to sleep in the major northern towns of Gulu and Kitgum. The LRA also has escalated its war on civilians by targeting religious leaders, aid workers and displaced people living in camps, the report said. "Child abduction, murder and mutilation are the signatures of the LRA in this war," said Lloyd Axworthy, head of the Canadian-based Liu Institute for Global Issues and a former Canadian foreign minister. "This is a war that has been fought primarily against the children and people of northern Uganda." The report follows last week's resolution in the European Parliament calling for international attention to end further violence in northern Uganda. [Click here for full report: www.hrw.org]