Security forces and rebels in northern Uganda have stepped up atrocities such as illegal killings, torture, rape and abduction over the last year, according to a report released on Tuesday.
”Since June 2002, the [rebel] Lord’s Resistance Army has abducted nearly 8 400 children and thousands more adults,” said the report, entitled Abducted and Abused: Renewed War in Northern Uganda.
The report was compiled by Kampala’s Peace and Human Rights Centre, Human Rights Focus, based in the northern town of Gulu, and the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
”Uganda army forces and officials of other government-related military security agencies have committed multiple abuses, including summary execution, torture, rape, child recruitment, and inhuman conditions of detention in unauthorised locations,” the report charged.
It noted that the 15-year-old war, which escalated after the government’s offensive code-named Operation Iron Fist was launched in March 2002, now targets religious leaders, aid providers, and displaced people.
”Child abduction, murder and mutilation are the signatures of the LRA in this war,” former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, who is now an HRW board member, said, adding that the war has been fought primarily against the children and people of northern Uganda.
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan has been asked to appoint a special representative for northern Uganda to secure release of abducted children by conducting ”shuttle diplomacy” between the LRA and the Ugandan government.
An estimated 800 000 northern Ugandans are internally displaced in three war-affected districts of the region. Rape by government soldiers has also contributed to the high prevalence of HIV/Aids in Gulu.
The report cited the case of cousins Joanna and Alice, aged 13 and 19, who were allegedly raped by two soldiers on October 12 2002 in the presence of one of their mothers. Both girls tested positive for HIV after the rape.
Among expectant mothers tested at one of the two hospitals in Gulu, the rates of HIV prevalence were 11%-12%, while the average national rate is six percent.
The report also accused the government of using treason and terrorism as holding charges.
”Not only has the Ugandan government failed to protect its citizens adequately, it has also actively violated their rights, detained them for long periods without showing cause and recruited children into the army and home guards,” Human Rights and Peace Centre director Samuel Tindifa said.
”The UN and members of the international community should take a more active role to end the war in northern Uganda,” HRW Africa division counsel Jemera Rone urged in the report. – Sapa-AFP