TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH NEWS AGENCY, AFP.


A report by charity groups says the rate of violent deaths in northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq. The report -- compiled by more than fifty aid organisations -- says nearly one-hundred-and-fifty northern Ugandans die every week due to the rebellion waged by the Lord's Resistance Army since the nineteen-eighties.  The report condemns the rebels, who are notorious for abducting children, for continuing their attacks on civilians.  But it also criticises the Ugandan government.  A spokesman for the government said the report failed to take into account that there had been a reduction of violence in recent years. 

{NET HEADLINE: Ugandan death rate higher than Iraq's }

{SOURCES: AFP, AP, ROSS XN 0000}

{30/03/2006 00:10:22.........Roger Walker.....x 72354}