Armed conflict in the world today: a country by country review
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UGANDAStatement: The situation in Uganda involves at least two civil wars and military actions against Rwanda carried out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Background: There are three or four rebel groups fighting in the country. The Ugandan government has been fighting the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) since the current president, Yoweri Museveni, took power in 1986. Originally led by Alice Auma Lakawena, a spirit medium, Joseph Kony took over the LRA in 1987 after Lakawena fled to Kenya. Part of a movement of northern Acholi people against the military take-over of Museveni, a southerner, in recent years the Acholi have been victims of the group as well. Due to lack of new recruits, the LRA uses abducted children as combatants. Based on the border with Sudan, its aim is to replace the current government with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments. The LRA engages in military action against the SPLA in Sudan due to its belief that the SPLA receives support from the Ugandan government. The West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), headed by Juma Oris, a minister under former dictator Idi Amin, was based in the northwest. The WNBF is mostly Kakwa and was estimated to have nearly 5,000 troops. It began fighting in May 1995 with the aim of returning Amin, exiled in Saudi Arabia, to power. The Allied Democratic Front (ADF), based on Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been fighting government forces since November 1996. In November 1996, senior officials in the opposition Democratic Party (DP) formed the Federal Democratic Army (FDA) to fight for the establishment of federalism. They have attacked a police station, killing one policeman. The National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU), the National Democratic Alliance, and the Ninth October Movement in the east are smaller groups who also have been fighting the government, but the authors are not convinced these groups meet the objective requirements for civil war status. In May 1996, approximately 2000 WNBF soldiers invaded Uganda from Sudan, but were beaten back by the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF). Then, in September, 800 WNBF rebels suspected to have been trained by the Sudanese military again invaded from Sudan. The rebels attacked a refugee camp where Southern Sudanese have been living. Throughout that year, camps in Uganda were attacked by both the WNBF and the LRA and hundreds of Sudanese refugees were killed. In early January 1997, fierce fighting was reported between government soldiers and the LRA. The LRA and the WNBF are accused by human rights groups of killing hundreds of civilians, engaging in atrocities (including amputation of captives limbs and rape) and of abducting school children. In January 1997, the UN began a relief effort for an over 40,000 displaced people in the north of the country in the wake of the violence. The LRA and the WNBF together controlled the northern third of the country at the beginning of 1997 and had formed an alliance against the government. Uganda accused Sudan of supporting the rebels, and Sudan in turn accused Uganda of assisting the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) (see “Sudan”). The two countries broke off diplomatic relations in 1995. In October 1997, president Museveni offered amnesty to the LRA, including to Kony and other leaders. Kony has been in exile in Sudan, and the LRA has reportedly disbanded and are now accused of being responsible for killing Sudanese aid workers in southern Sudan in February 2000 (see “Sudan”). UNICEF estimates the LRA has abducted up to 10,000 children. The WNBF has reportedly disbanded. In June 1998, the ADF attacked the Kichwamba National Institute, burned close to 100 students and abducted another 100. Current Situation: The Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) is fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the aim of preventing the ADF from crossing into Uganda to attack civilians (see “Democratic Republic of the Congo”). Kenya also accuses the UPDF of entering Kenya. In August 1999, the ADF carried out a number of raids, and over 600 people were displaced. In September 1999, the ADF attacked the UPDF base in Budibugyo, but the UPDF counterattacked at overran 17 ADF hideouts. In October 1999, the ADF killed 80 students at Kichwamba. Rwandan authorities vehemently denied accusations by Uganda that Rwanda was helping the ADF. In November 1999, the UPDF deployed 6000 soldiers against the ADF in the Ruwenzori Mountains in a move thought to have dealt a serious blow to the ADF. However, in December the ADF abducted 365 inmates in the Ruwenzori area and then massacred 90 of them. The ADF is also accused of abducting as many as 360 children since 1996. Eight tourists were killed in the Bwindi National Park in February 1999 by NALU and the Rwandan Interahamwe (see “Rwanda”). In December 1999, Sudan and Uganda agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations and to stop providing support to each other’s rebel groups. Since then, the ADF has increased its attacks in Western Uganda. In January 2000, around 28 people died after ADF rebels shot people and burned huts at a displaced persons camp. Uganda has passed a bill under which rebels have six months to stop fighting in exchange for amnesty from prosecution. In February 2000, Uganda began negotiations with Sudan for the extradition of LRA leader Joseph Kony. There have been 20 terrorist-related incidents in Uganda since 1997, with 50 people killed and over 200 injured. Both the ADF and the LRA are suspected to have been involved. The NALU has claimed responsibility for several of the attacks. There are around 100,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda. The LRA attacked the Choli Pii and Koboko refugee camps several times in 1998, hacking to death some of the refugees. There are at least 300,000 Ugandans displaced by fighting. Food convoys headed for Sudan have been attacked in Uganda. In April 1999, several humanitarian agencies, including the World Food Program, were forced to leave Western Uganda due to security concerns. The UPDF in the Democratic Republic of the Congo carried out sporadic actions against the Rwanda forces also in the Congo throughout 1999. In June 2000, a major battle between Uganda and Rwanda in Kisangani (DRC) caused severe damage to that Congolese city before a UN-brokered peace was established (see “Democratic Republic of the Congo”). UN Action: UNOMUR (6/93-9/94). GA Res 49/24. GA Res 49/20. Comm Res 2000/60. Comm Res 1999/43. Rpt S-G (E/CN.4/2000/69). Rpt S-G (E/CN.4/2000/6/Add.1). Rpt S-G (E/CN.4/1999/69). 3rd Prog Rpt S-G (S/1995/1073). Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture: Nigel S. Rodley: E/CN.4/1999/61; E/CN.4/2000/9. Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: E/CN.4/1995/36; E/CN.4/1996/38; E/CN.4/1997/34; E/CN.4/1998/43. Report of Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions: Asma Jahangir: E/CN.4/2000/3 & Add.1. Report of Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of Religious Intolerance: Abdelfattah Amor: E/CN.4/2000/65. Report of Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women: Radhika Coomaraswamy: E/CN.4/2000/68/Add.4. 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