Rights group urges Ugandan prosecutions
Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Updated: Tuesday, September 20, 2005
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Both government troops and rebels from the notorious Lord's Resistance Army are responsible for killings, torture, rape and other abuses in the 19-year civil war in northern Uganda, a U.S.-based human rights group said Tuesday.
Victims fail to get justice because of a lack of security in camps housing those displaced by the war, police reluctance to act against soldiers in a war zone, a limited number of judges, and prohibitive costs for mounting private litigation, according to Human Rights Watch.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza denied that troops were committing atrocities with impunity, saying that those found guilty of harassing civilians have been brought to justice.
He also said the Human Rights Watch report was part of efforts to tarnish Uganda's image.
"It is part of a larger international campaign against Uganda, against the political system here and it is b eing coordinated by the political opposition," Bantariza said.
The shadowy Lord's Resistance Army has little contact with the outside world, and its representatives could not be reached for comment.
The group is made up of the remnants of a northern rebellion that began after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, took power in 1986. It holds no territory and is best known for kidnapping thousands of children and forcing them to become soldiers or sex slaves.
Attempts to negotiate an end to the northern war have failed because of mistrust between the government and rebels. Late last year, government and rebel negotiators failed to sign a cease-fire deal, which had been expected to lead to talks on a political settlement. Efforts by religious leaders to mediate also have failed.
More than 1.6 million people live in some 200 camps after fleeing their homes to escape attacks. At least 30,000 children have been kidnapped.
"People in the ca mps are forced by extreme necessity to travel outside to farm, hunt and gather firewood or water, where army soldiers have raped women and girls and beaten and detained men and boys," according to the report, "Uprooted and Forgotten: Impunity and Human Rights Abuses in Northern Uganda."
"These forces have committed deliberate killings, routine beatings, rapes and prolonged arbitrary detentions of civilians to such an extent that there is extreme resentment against their presence," according to the group.
The government has failed to "meaningfully" prosecute troops responsible for abuses or to discipline its forces, the New York-based group said.
"Human Rights Watch found that the 11th Battalion of the (Ugandan army) based in Cwero and Awach camps of Gulu district committed numerous deliberate killings and beatings of civilians during the months of 2005 when it was assigned to those camps; it was transferred out of the area after numerous international complaints ," the report said.
Human Rights Watch said the International Criminal Court should prosecute government troops and rebels accused of atrocities.
The court, which has investigated the situation in northern Uganda, has not been well-received in the region partly because of a perception that it will investigate only rebel abuses and will interfere with efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
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