African Rights questions "Operation Iron Fist"

The UK-based advocacy organisation African Rights has said that the Ugandan army's military campaign - entitled "Operation Iron Fist" - to root out Joseph Kony's rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has grave consequences for the prospects of peace and for the people of northern Uganda. In a statement issued on 9 May, African Rights said that by taking the war into southern Sudan, the Ugandan government had "banked on pulling off a spectacular end to the conflict in the north", but that its calculations had not gone according to plan. African Rights said preparations for the mission appeared to have been rushed, and that even from a military perspective, the campaign could not be described as a success so far, with the Ugandan and Sudanese forces suffering "exceptionally high casualties" at the hands of the LRA in separate attacks in March, and with "scores of men killed or injured". Military missions with tight deadlines were a recipe for political and humanitarian mistakes, said African Rights, and the limited time period allowed for the operations in Sudan was likely to intensify the pressure on the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) to deliver, with the result that minimising casualties was unlikely to be considered a major priority. Following research among the Acholi people of northern Uganda - to whom most of the LRA recruits belong - African Rights said the only way to end the conflict was through dialogue and peaceful strategies, in order to deprive Joseph Kony of recruits and political support. "Disregard for the views of local people is a major reason for the problems that have beset this initiative from the outset," says African Rights. While a substantial number of northerners make it clear that they would welcome a decisive military victory by the government over Joseph Kony and the LRA, "they know only too well that military action will entail the loss of more Acholi lives, prolong insecurity and ensure that dislocation and displaced camps continue without respite". "The most widely held view among the Acholi is that the current military operation should not have taken place at all," says African Watch. Peaceful resolution of this long-standing conflict was never an easy option, the organisation added. This had always been understood by the people of northern Uganda, who viewed dialogue and amnesty as the only way to secure a sustainable peace. "From their point of view, a crucial but delicate and complicated exercise has been needlessly jeopardised in the search for a short-term solution, which now risks deepening and prolonging the conflict." The Ugandan army spokesman, Maj Shaban Bantariza, told IRIN on Friday that the UPDF had "taken the problem of the LRA back to its source" by conducting "Operation Iron Fist" in Sudan. He said various dialogues had been tried with the LRA since 1987, which had collapsed, and after which the LRA had continued to fight. "Those talking about a peaceful resolution, that's what we would wish as well, but all the talks have failed." Regarding the African Rights report, he said: "The report does not have all the facts or the historical background of this conflict, and how it has progressed since 1987. It has got a lot of missing links." Shaban said Kony was not interested in peaceful dialogue, and that he had stated that he would not take advantage of the amnesty on offer, nor would he allow others to take advantage of it. He added that the Ugandan army considered the operation in Sudan to be very successful. It had managed to reduce the LRA's capacity for war by capturing a number of arms and food supplies, he said. He said that because LRA members had begun to antagonise their Sudanese hosts, by killing them, they were proving that they were "terrorists" and the UPDF was therefore achieving a political success. He added that the UPDF had killed approximately 70 rebels, while losing five soldiers and one officer itself.