In August, fighters from the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group rampaged through Ezo, a county of autonomous South Sudan that borders the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rebels burned and looted homes, churches and health facilities, killed an undetermined number of civilians and kidnapped as many as 10 young girls, according to press reports. The LRA, which Washington has officially labeled a terrorist group, often forces children to become soldiers or sex slaves.
The violence in Ezo displaced as many as 80,000 people, in a part of the world that's already over-burdened by an estimated 3 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from overlapping Central African conflicts. In Ezo, the World Health Organization reported two weeks ago that "many IDPs are still hiding in the jungle due to persistent fear of LRA attacks, while most displaced are now living in camps organized by local authorities or host communities." ...
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