Army cracks down on its officers over safety of IDPs

The Ugandan army has said the arrest of one of its unit commanders for failing to protect an internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp from an attack by Ugandan rebels on 19 March is "a warning to officers who neglect their duties" in the country's volatile northern provinces. "We are cracking down on mistakes made by the commanders. They are being monitored more carefully and are not going to get away with this sloppy behaviour in the future," the army spokesman in the north, Lt Chris Magezi, told IRIN on Wednesday. He said a Capt Kavuma was arrested after Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels had attacked Lira-Palwo camp, which houses about 6,000 IDPs, on the evening of Friday, 19 March. The rebels killed 12 civilians and burnt over 100 thatched huts. Magezi said Kavuma had failed to radio for help in time or organise his detachment to fend off the rebels. Eyewitnesses of the attack have reportedly alleged that Kavuma's team was ill prepared and that some of its officers were drunk. Magezi said the army had managed to repel a series of other attempts to attack IDPs camps in the Pader-Lira area, where rebel activity had been most intense in recent months. "In addition, our forces killed seven of the group responsible for Friday's attack in hot pursuit," he said. The LRA has waged war in northern Uganda for 18 years. The rebels, led by a reclusive mystic, Joseph Kony, say they want to topple the Ugandan government, which is dominated by southerners, and restore power to the Acholi people in the north. Yet observers note that most of the group’s atrocities are committed against defenceless civilians, usually fellow Acholis. The rebels attack trading centres, looting food and supplies, killing, maiming and torturing people. The UN estimates that 1.5 million people in the north have been displaced by the fear of LRA attacks and live in squalid camps where they are supposed to be protected. The rebels, however, frequently infiltrate and attack civilians inside the camps. Last month over 300 people were killed in an attack on Barlonyo IDPs camp near Lira town, 380 km north of the capital, Kampala, in the worst LRA atrocity since the insurgency began. President Yoweri Museveni blamed his commanders over the attack, saying they should have prevented it.