Uganda children march for peace

Village children are forced to sleep in towns to avoid kidnap

Up to 20,000 school children have marched through the northern Ugandan town of Kitgum, demanding an end to rebel abductions.

The demonstration was timed to coincide with a visit to the area by the Pope's special envoy, Archbishop Christophe Pierre.

Over the weekend, the army said it had rescued about 250 people - most of them children - who had been kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

We cannot sleep at our homes because the rebels come and attack us Ananna Cinerela, 12

Last month, many children were abducted when their school was raided by rebels.

The LRA has been fighting government forces since the late 1980s to replace President Yoweri Museveni's secular government in a campaign marked by brutality against civilians.

'Peace-lovers'

"Defend us and talk peace," one placard read, while another called on the LRA to stop abductions.

One of the march organisers, Bishop Baker Ochola, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the children were addressing their message to the Ugandan Government, the LRA, the international community and "all peace-loving people in the world".

"Give us a chance to gro, learn and develop our potentials. Give us opportunities to live as ordinary chidren in other parts of the world," the children chanted.

"We are suffering because our brothers and sisters who are in the bush are coming to us and abducting us," said Ananna Cinerela, 12.

"We cannot sleep at our homes because the rebels come and attack us.

"We feel sorry because it is our brothers who are in the bush who are participating (in the abduction) as if they are not from Uganda," she said.

Officials say the LRA has abducted hundreds of children in northern Uganda in recent years, forcing them to fight as child soldiers if they are boys, or to become sex slaves for rebel commanders if they are girls.