Rebels kidnap 700 people

UGANDAN LRA rebels have kidnapped at least 700 people in attacks in Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic since February last year, a rights group said yesterday.

The Lord’s Resistance Army “kidnapped at least 697 adults and children during a little documented campaign in the Central African Republic and the neighbouring Bas-Uele district in Northern DRC,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

“Nearly a third of those kidnapped are children and many of them are forced to serve as soldiers or are used as sex slaves by the armed group’s fighters.”