Show k I e I I IL L en II t E Een Et en 11 j II C j N o en 0 I SAFETY IN NUMBERS Children known as night commuters sleep side by side in a bus station in Gulu northern Uganda The Lords Lord's Resistance Army abducts many children using them as soldiers and sex slaves For their security children leave their homes at dusk and gather in town centers l Horror in Uganda Francine Orr Los Angeles Times As dusk falls across northern Uganda scores of children begin their nightly trek into the centers of remote provincial towns They sleep in doorways doorways doorways door door- ways on verandas and at drafty bus stations i i hospitals and schools They are known as night commuters and they make the hike from their desolate rural homes because they are afraid For almost two decades a notorious rebel group that calls itself the Lords Lord's Resistance Army or LRA has been terrorizing villagers It kidnaps adults to haul heavy loads over long distances But it also steals children some as young as 8 The LRA forces the boys to become soldiers the girls b become ec me sex slaves IAVa M Sh S W V J V V tj S SIt I it It also 4 ts compels ifs its r victims tims t to Vict victimize m e others others s i Reports Reports' ab abound und of of- of youngsters of-youngsters youngsters f torturing ng or or killing peers who had tried to escape or displeased displeased displeased dis dis- dis- dis pleased their captors Hundreds of youths have shared details of their ordeals with aid workers who have set up live-in live trauma counseling cen- cen I terse leis The LRA is led by Joseph Kony who claims tobe to tobe tobe be act acting ng under divine instruction It says it is fighting for political recognition and it denies brutality toward civilians In one day l last t month however the rebels hacked at least 16 people to death with the victims' victims own farming fanning tools The government of Ugandan President has tried to conduct negotiations negotiations negotiations with Kony but there have been no firm results Officials say Kony is nothing more than a bandit and that it would be out of the question to give him either amnesty or a political political political ical office So the cruelty persists International aid groups estimate that children have been abducted in the slow-burning slow conflict Although hundreds have escaped they rarely find peace Villages across northern Uganda have been uprooted The former fonner residents languish in camps which are cramped and unsanitary Food clean water and medical care are scarce Malnutrition and diseases such as malaria scabies scabies scabies bies and tuberculosis afflict many Those who leave camp to look for work firewood or edible edible edi eeli- b ble pJ plants rj risi being attacked by the reb rebels rebels captured in shootouts or blown up b by mines that litter the landscape The rebels often storm the camps to loot supplies and kidnap more victims Times photographer Orr reported from the troubled region in September 2003 and April of this year Horror in Uganda continued in Photo Essay on Page 8 MILES MILESA f A MOY vh take Alba S 4 a UGANDA J yoga Beni Kampala Inja s Lake Masaka RWANDA I J tJ Locator map illustrates Uganda f i ir i y T p r y Jf a ap 64 1 A 1 g wr t 7 t 4 iP iI r l liI V h F f x Las y i r y J y J a Y f f fAx Ax d iN j 1 p Y Orphans Sarah Alimo top and Vicki Abony sleep on the cool concrete floor of the feeding center at St. St Josephs Joseph's Hospital in J I 4 d r l F 4 Albert a year old victim was kidnapped by members of the rebel group who mutilated his hands and cut off his ears and upper lip v 1 r rN t t ty y r r as jr r LV y rA r A child gathers grain spilled from World Food Program trucks at the camp in n northern north north- rth- rth ern Uganda People who leave the camp to look for food or firewood risk being attacked by Lords Lord's Resistance Army fighters Ai F L y I 1 4 ti err 1 y S The threat of ambushes looting and land mines is widespread in northern norther Uganda When vehicles break down during the delivery of food to a camp camo for th the displaced troops escorting the convoy go on heightened alert Horror H in Uganda U ga d a con continued t- t d from f ro page 2 2 iF r f. f Los Angeles Times photos by Francine Orr OrrS I J.- J. tt f f J I v S |