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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Rival factions in Congo are forcibly recruiting hundreds of children and sending them to fight on the front lines of an escalating conflict in the east of the country, the United Nations said Friday.
Armed groups active in Congo's North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda and Uganda, "appear to be deliberately targeting schools and other gathering places where children are particularly exposed" to recruit the youngsters for combat, the U.N. said.
"Many testimonies gathered recently confirmed that after being forcibly recruited, children receive military training and are sent to the front line, in the heart of the fighting, while others are used for logistical tasks or as sexual slaves," the U.N. said.
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