The conflict in Uganda presented on Nightline

Aug 23, 2005 (USA) — Actor Don Cheadle and Crisis Group’s John Prendergast call attention to the ongoing conflict in Uganda on ABC’s television news program Nightline, broadcast 23 August 2005 throughout the United States. “This is a slow burning emergency,” states Prendergast, “two decades worth of slow death and rapid displacement. So, nearly everyone in the entire northern part of Uganda has been displaced from their homes. And they suffer a quiet emergency.”

For nearly 20 years, the Ugandan government has been involved in armed conflict with the rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA’s extreme bratality has displaced 1.6 million people, and its attacks on civilians continue. Furthermore, as Cheadle puts it, “the LRA has a particularly ugly way of replenishing its ranks, kidnapping. Their targets are children between the ages of 8 and 14. Rebels raid villages, stealing what they need and burning the rest. According to UN estimates, more than 30,000 children have been forced into the service of the LRA since 1994.”

To see the streaming video of the show, use this link :
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/Nightline/Video/videoSmil?id=1063173