Safe sleeping Children flood Ugandan town each night to avoid

GULU, Uganda -- Alice Acielo has a family and a home, but the 11-year-old girl has slept on the streets of this town in northern Uganda for nearly a month.

Acielo is among an estimated 20,000 children who leave their families every night and walk more than a mile to the government-controlled town of Gulu, afraid to sleep in their own homes in rural areas where rebels known for abducting children roam unopposed.

Northern Uganda is home turf of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, a group that has abducted up to 20,000 children, forcing boys to become soldiers and using the girls as concubines, international human rights organizations say.

The only safe havens are towns like Gulu, where the army maintains a 24-hour presence.

Each day, when school ends, Acielo and her brothers rush home, drop off their books and uniforms and then make the two-mile hike to Gulu, about 225 miles north of Kampala, the capital.

At dawn, they rush back home to grab books and uniforms before heading to school.

"When I started school, I wanted to be a teacher," said Acielo, with a thin blanket slung over her shoulders and no shoes.

"But I think I will not complete school because of this war," she said.

The children settle down for the night at bus stops, in parks, or verandahs, wrapping themselves in dirty blankets and plastic sheets.

Other towns in northern Uganda are also flooded with children each night, Roman Catholic Church leaders from the region say.

On a recent night, Alice and nearly 2,000 other children crammed into the town's bus park.

Child abductions rising

According to Human Rights Watch, child abductions have skyrocketed since the government launched an offensive against rebel bases in neighboring Sudan more than a year ago.

The 17-year rebellion has ravaged northern Uganda, killing thousands and forcing 800,000 people to flee.

Efforts to start peace talks have failed and the rebels keep pushing -- abducting more children as they battle.

Church leaders in the largely Roman Catholic region say an increase in rebel attacks in recent weeks has driven up the number of children who nightly flock to Gulu.

On Tuesday, rebels attacked the eastern town of Soroti, about 175 miles from Kampala, and abducted 56 girls from a nearby school.

Patrick Ojok was abducted by the rebels in December. He was released a month later only because his feet got swollen on the long marches and he could no longer keep up.

Memories of the experience drive the 17-year-old into Gulu each night.

"They forced the young people to carry heavy loads," he said. "I saw many people, mostly adults, being killed."

In May, U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao announced a $13 million initiative to help eliminate the use of children as soldiers in more than 30 countries and to help those who were enslaved. The initiative included more than $3 million for the children of Uganda.

More than 300,000 children under age 18 are fighting in armed conflicts around the world, with almost half in central Africa, according to the International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Most of the children are between ages 15 and 18, but some are as young as age 7.