Regional troops hunting LRA rebels unpaid, ill trained
Friday July 27 2012
Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) during a training exercise on April 20, 2011 at Olilim in Northern Uganda. Regional troops deployed to hunt down LRA rebels are “poorly trained and unpaid”, a consortium of American organisations has said in a joint petition to UN secretary-general A Photo/File
Regional troops deployed to hunt down LRA rebels are “poorly trained and unpaid”, a consortium of American organisations has said in a joint petition to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon and the new African Union chief, Ms Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The Ugandan army yesterday refuted the claims with spokesperson Felix Kulayigye saying: “UPDF is a very well-trained force and assessment about (ill) training and indiscipline does not apply to us.”
In the letter sent to Mr Ki-Moon and Ms Dlamini-Zuma on Wednesday, a copy of which this newspaper has seen, lobby groups; Invisible Children, Resolve, Enough Project and Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, noted: “Military forces deployed to LRA-affected areas are often poorly-paid and trained, and in some cases prey upon the very communities they are tasked with protecting.”
“This is especially concerning given plans for some of these forces to be incorporated into the African Union’s LRA Regional Task Force,” the NGOs noted, raising a red flag on lack of cooperation among regional countries engaged in the counter-LRA efforts.
Kinshasa last September kicked UPDF out of Congo following allegations of involvement in fresh plunder of the country’s natural resources and poaching elephants for tusks, separately reported by UN peace-keepers (MONUSCO).
New move
The NGOs say Joseph Kabila’s government has in a surprise move assigned the 391st Battalion of its army specially trained by the US for countering the LRA to Goma, to fend off onslaught by M23 rebels.
The forced withdrawal of Ugandan troops and DRC’s alleged reluctance to investigate reported LRA incursions on its soil has rendered civilians more vulnerable to deadly attacks, noted the groups.
The AU plans to assemble a 5,000-strong force drawn from the militaries of Uganda, South Sudan, the DR Congo and the Central African Republic to tackle the LRA.
News of military incompetence and political polarisation emerged as regional actors on LRA gathered in Entebbe yesterday for a three-day meeting to thrash out details of implementing a UN Security Council-endorsed, 5-point strategic plan, which includes jumpstarting the delayed Regional Task Force to be headed by Col. Dick Olum; former commander of Uganda’s Military Police.