Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, on Saturday urged the Ugandan military to remove children from its ranks and take steps to reintegrate them into civilian society. Coomaraswamy said that she found some children in UPDF and local militias during her recent tour of northern Uganda. The UPDF has also been accused of recruiting children whom they have rescued from LRA rebels into their ranks. Read more at The New Vision.

Two civilians were killed by the Ugandan military in an IDP camp in Gulu District last Friday. Residents of the camp said that the two men killed were returning to the camp from their gardens before being arrested and later shot by UPDF soldiers, while a UPDF spokesman called them "chicken thieves" and said they stumbled into an ambush. Residents of the camp have complained of UPDF misconduct in the past, and the incident exemplifies the heightened insecurity and military-civilian tensions prevalent in northern Uganda. Read more at AllAfrica.com.

Over 100 UPDF 4th Division soldiers are training in child rights protection and promotion in the war-ravaged north. On Wednesday, Save the Children Uganda officer for education, Sammy Poro, called them to become child rights advocates among colleagues. Poro said, "If you protect one child from danger, you will have done a great job to this nation." Read more at The New Vision.