LRA Expands Abductions in Central Africa

If you don't know much about the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda and its leader Joseph Kony, now is the time to learn. Human Rights Watch reported yesterday that the LRA has abducted at least 100 children, and probably many more, and in the Central African Republic , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and in the Southern part of Sudan. The boys they kidnap are either made to be porters or trained in the army. The girls are forced into sexual slavery. HRW is calling for international action to stop the abductions and to enforce the arrest warrants against Joseph Kony that have been issued by the International Criminal Court.

Kony has led a 21-year uprising against the Ugandan government. This war has taken many thousands of lives and has displaced over 2 million people. According to HRW, "The LRA has been responsible for willful killings, beatings, large-scale abductions, forced recruitment of adults and children, rape against girls whom it assigns as 'wives' or sex slaves to commanders, and large-scale looting and destruction of civilian property." It is time that western governments--led by the European Union and the United States--take action against this dangerous group and bring its leaders to justice.