UGANDA 28/4/2004 10:52 ADJUMANI: SUDANESE REFUGEES ALSO FALL VICTIM TO REBELS General, Brief Thousands of Sudanese refugees are trying to return to their home villages to escape the attacks by the rebels of LRA (Lordæ Resistance Army) in the area of Adjumani in north Uganda, MISNA sources have said, adding that the Ugandan army is trying to stop this exodus towards Sudan. On the basis of testimonies gathered in the area of Mojo, around 50 kilometres north of Adjumani, it seems that the Sudanese refugees have been made to enter the so-called ærotected camps?set up by the government for people displaced by the rebels. It seems that the inhabitants of this area have received serious threats from the rebels over the last few days; in confirmation of the gravity of the situation, last week WFP (World Food Programme, the food-aid arm of the United Nations) launched an appeal, saying that over 20,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the district of Adjumani over the last month due to the continuous LRA attacks. Some witnesses have reported that that the Ugandan troops who catch the Sudanese fleeing towards the border steal their few belongings before sending them to the ærotected camps? More often than not, the refugees in question are civilians who fled Sudan to escape the 20-year conflict between the Islamic government of Khartoum and the southern secessionists. The LRA has tormented the northern districts of Uganda since 1986; according to local sources, at least 100,000 people have been killed, 25,000 children have been abducted and reduced to slavery or forced to serve in the ranks of the guerrilla force, and over a million people have been displaced from their homes. [LC N¬±êï‰Ç²,µçhžØ^"wèr‰§zÜ(®Hm¶Ÿÿà "ú ¢g(º
