Uganda rejects Darfur comparison to its northern conflict
KAMPALA, Oct 22 (AFP) — Kampala on Friday rejected a comparison drawn by a top UN official between the conflicts in northern Uganda and Sudan’s Darfur, insisting its fight against the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was almost over.
“The situation in northern Uganda is not any nearer to what we see in Darfur, because in Uganda, there is no state-sponsored situation the same way it is in Darfur. The comparison is, therefore, not exact,” Information Minister James Nsaba Buturo told AFP by telephone on Friday.
UN humanitarian assistance chief Jan Egeland said Thursday that the conflict in northern Uganda was the “world’s greatest neglected humanitarian crisis” and a “moral outrage” rivalling that of Sudan’s Darfur, and called for more international involvement.
“I hope that we can now, as the international community, wake up and help Uganda to solve its crisis. What we need is a much bigger international effort and presence in northern Uganda,” Egeland said.
Buturo said the crisis in Uganda was at a “low ebb, only posing challenges related to post-conflict programmes.”
“Egeland might be out of touch with the reality on the ground. The conflict is at its low ebb because massive defections have weakened the rebel army that can no longer stage attacks on displaced people’s camps (IDPs),” Buturo said.
However, he admitted that the UN official was right about the state of the humanitarian situation in the region.
“It is true our people need a lot of help. The challenge we face is that people need to live a normal life again and improve the lives of the internally displaced people,” Buturo said.
The Lord’s Resistance Army rebels havee been waging a bloody campaign in northern Uganda since 1988 to replace President Yoweri Museveni’s secular government with that based on the bible’s Ten Commandments, but has been distinguished particularly by its brutal treatment of civilians.
They have kidnapped some 20,000 children, who are forced to serve as either soldiers or sex slaves for the rebel commanders. Around 1.6 million civilians have been forced to live in camps in the region.