By Elias Biryabarema
Dec 22, 2003
KAMPALA - Members of the Arrow Group militia in Teso region are undisciplined, the army spokesman has said.
"That's what happens with a militia that is not battle-hardened," Maj. Shaban Bantariza told The Monitor by phone on Saturday. "Some of them have, for example, not gone through our court martial to test the
consequences of misconduct."
Bantariza's comments came two days after members of Parliament from the region said many the militia fighters were deserting the force, which was set up to help the army contain the Lord's Resistance Army rebels following their incursion into Teso in June.
According to the report, several members of the militia have quit the force over lack of pay and sneaked back into their villages with their guns.
"We can't predict what these boys can do with the guns but certainly, when you get young men hungry and reckless with fire arms, we anticipate a sudden spate of gun crime in the region," an MP from the region told The Monitor.
The army spokesman, however, dismissed the claims by the MPs that the militia fighters desert with their guns.
"They leave their uniforms and guns back; there's no way they can go with them. We know where they come from so we would track them down," he said.
Bantariza said most of the militia fighters had joined the force with very high expectations but were soon disappointed when they received no salaries for several months.
Bantariza blamed this on bureaucracy and said the money had to be released by the ministry of Finance, passed on to Internal Affairs and then to Defence.
"We have started paying them from the month of October," he said. He also said that the army commander has appointed a political commissar in charge of the militia.
Fellow Citizens:
You must admit that the (Kampala) Regime's policy to arm the so called Arrow Militia, was and is a wrong move to begin with. Some of us with vision warned the regime of the consequencies of arming the so called militia; which, as you can now see, can be rather disastrous.
Matek
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
