Ugandans in Sudan to be repatriated

United Nations officials say that more than sixty Ugandans who escaped from the captivity of Ugandan rebels in southern Sudan, are to be repatriated.

Officials from the UN children's fund said the sixty-two people had escaped from rebels of the Lords Resistance Army in different parts of southern Sudan over several months.

They had been taken by the UN organisation to Khartoum, where they received medical treatment.

Twenty-six of them are children.

They are to be flown from Khartoum to Entebbe, where attempts will be made to re-unite them with their families. This will be the fourth group of former rebel captives to be repatriated from Sudan since December 1999, when Kampala and Khartoum signed an agreement to normalise relations.

They have both accused the other of backing rebel groups opposed to them.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service