|
By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General BanKi-moon has submitted his first report to the Security Councildetailing grave crimes committed against children by Ugandanwarlord Joseph Kony and his feared Lord's Resistance Army, the U.N.announced on Wednesday. Kony has evaded the region's militaries for nearly three decades,kidnapping tens of thousands of children to fill the ranks of hisLord's Resistance Army and serve as sex slaves as he moves throughthe bush. Thousands have been killed by his brutal army. Between July 2009 and February 2012, Kony's group kidnapped atleast 591 children - 268 girls and 323 boys - mostly in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in South Sudan and theCentral African Republic (CAR), the report said. "Children reported that they were used in various capacities, ascooks, porters, guards, spies or directly in hostilities ascombatants or human shields," Ban said. "Girls who spent a substantial period of time associated with thegroup reported to have been subject to sexual slavery andexploitation, including by being forcibly 'married' to combatants.Some children were forced to use violence, including to kill theirfriends or other children in the armed group." The deployment of U.S. special forces as advisers to help Ugandansoldiers track Kony and his senior commanders in the denseequatorial jungle across a region that spans several countries hasraised hopes the sadistic leader's days are numbered. Three other African countries - Congo, South Sudan and the CAR -are preparing to join an African Union guerrilla coalition tolaunch an international manhunt to capture Kony and see that he isput on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague,which has issued a warrant for his arrest. The United Nations has said that Kony appears to be increasinglynervous as a result and is changing his location every few daysnow. "The LRA continues to cast a long shadow across Central Africa,causing enormous suffering for children," U.N. specialrepresentative for children and armed conflict Radhika Coomaraswamytold reporters. Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one time was bent onruling Uganda by the Ten Commandments, fled his native northernUganda in 2005, roaming first the lawless expanses of South Sudanand then the isolated northeastern tip of Congo. In December 2008, after last-ditch peace talks failed, Ugandanparatroopers and fighter jets struck the Lord's Resistance Army'sCongo hideouts. Kony slipped through the net, raising suspicions hehad been tipped off. Kony and many of his combatants, estimated to number between 200and 500, moved north into CAR, though the U.N. has said it hasinformation that Kony might have recently slipped over the porousborder into Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region. Kony was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this year when avideo, "Kony 2012", highlighting the chilling mutilations, rapesand murders carried out by his spell-bound fighters went viral onthe Internet. (The full U.N. report on Kony's Lord's ResistanceArmy can be found here:Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2012/365) (ReportingBy Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Andrew Hay) Earlier on HuffPost:. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Puffy Alphabet Stickers Manufacturer , Dress Up Doll Stickers Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits EVA Stickers.
Related Articles -
Puffy Alphabet Stickers Manufacturer, Dress Up Doll Stickers Manufacturer,
|
