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Disarmament Abuse in Uganda Leads UN
Agency to Suspend Its Work and Spending
By Matthew Russell Lee at the United
Nations
Abuses by the Ugandan government's "cordon and search" disarmament
program in the Karamojo region have resulted in a suspension of United
Nations Development Programme spending and activities in northeast
Uganda, a UNDP spokesman acknowledged in writing on June 27, 2006.
I UNDP's spokesman states that "UNDP does not support the recent
operations of the Ugandan military [the Ugandan People's Defense Force,
UPDF] in 'cordon and search' in any manner and has warned that
such approaches undermine the possibility of achieving lasting peace
and development for the region. UNDP has joined with other development
partners in Uganda to voice concern about this exercise to Ugandan
authorities." The spokesman confirmed that UNDP's program directed at
the Karamojong pastoralists was budgeted at $1 million in UN funds, to
include "voluntary" disarmament program, but that the program has been
suspended after spending $293,000. The spokesman added that "the UPDF
neither informs nor coordinates with the UN nor requests support from
the UN in its actions. UNDP and other donors strongly urge these
operations to cease and to return to agreed strategies."
It is still unclear what these "agreed strategies" were, and who agreed
to them.
Beginning on June 19, 2006, UN-accredited media Inner City Press asked
UNDP to respond to the following:
"In Kotido district on May 19, 2006, in Jimos
village, the UPDF and LDUs encircled a village and attacked them to
force them to turn over their weapons. 4 people were killed by the
UPDF/LDUs including a 15 year old girl. Over 100 homes were burnt and
the protective fence shelters used to protect the collective living
space from enemy armed raiders were burnt. Many inhabitants, including
many women, were taken and detained in the UPDF barracks in Kotido.
"In Moroto district, at Loputiput and Longoleki
village, in Nadunget sub county, on May 19, 2006, the army encircled
the village at 4 a.m.. People were ordered out of their huts and beaten
while the army searched the village. Even though it appears the army
found no weapons or ammunition, ten men from the village were taken and
detained at the Moroto army barracks.
"Also in Moroto District, newly disarmed
villages began being attacked on June 3 and there are at least a dozen
attacks have occurred. For example, on June 1, 2006, a prominent
Karamajong peace leader who people had worked with to design a
voluntary disarmament program saw what was occurring in forced
disarmament and so to save his village brought in a dozen guns that
were in his village. He then asked the UPDF / LDUs for protection
against the armed raiders. He was told they would not protect the
village. On June 3 his village was attacked by armed raiders and he and
some of his sons were killed and over 118 head of cattle were stolen.
"On May 26,
2006, in Loperot parish attacks killed an old woman, 4 women were
raped, many people were beaten. One boy who was shot in the leg and
beaten was then forced to drink three liters of local liquor. He was
later admitted in Matani Hospital in Moroto district."
Eight days after Inner City Press raised these issues to UNDP, the
agency's spokesman has responded in writing that "regarding your
query as to specific reports of human rights abuses and other incidents
in the region: UNDP, as stressed in our previous conversations, does
not have the mandate or capacity to carry out investigations of human
rights abuses. UNDP has no staff working in the villages cited in your
question and no direct knowledge therefore of these particular
incidents. However, UNDP is aware of these reports, takes them
seriously, and, as noted above, has conveyed its concerns about UPDF
actions in the Karamoja region to Ugandan national authorities and
suspended work its own work in the region."
What was new in the June 27 response was the final phrase,
"suspended... its own work in the region." It is unclear why UNDP's
chief for External Communications would unable to confirm such action,
or suspension, for more than a week, and did not provide financial
information until Tuesday's message. The day previous, Inner City
Press received a communication naming the $1 million figure, and
blaming the "failure" of the program in Karamojo on UNDP itself.
There is much on which to follow up. The UNDP Spokesman's third email
to Inner City Press is below:
From: William.Orme
[at] undp.org
To: Matthew.Lee [at]
InnerCityPress.com
Cc: [2 in OSSG, 2 in
UNDP]
Sent: Tue, 27 Jun
2006 14:40:03 -0400
Subject: RE: NE
Uganda and UNDP
Matthew,
I'm sorry I missed you yesterday...Your main line of questioning has to
do with the Ugandan military's operation in the area over which UNDP
and the UN generally has no connection or control... We can inform you
about our own operations, though. You can use all of this on the record
if you wish... A summary:
UNDP in no way
supports “involuntary” or “forceful” disarmament in eastern Uganda.
UNDP advocates voluntary disarmament linked to the strengthening of
human security as the best way forward. UNDP supports peacebuilding and
development in Karamoja and has encouraged voluntary weapons collection
processes, as outlined in the Government’s Poverty Eradication and
Action Plan, that first take into consideration and address the root
causes of insecurity and work together with local communities towards
finding sustainable solutions.
UNDP does not support
the recent operations of the Ugandan military (UPDF) in “cordon and
search” in any manner and has warned that such approaches undermine the
possibility of achieving lasting peace and development for the region.
UNDP has joined with other development partners in Uganda to voice
concern about this exercise to Ugandan authorities.
There is no and has
never been any UNDP or UN funding of or involvement with UPDF
disarmament activities, contrary to published assertions to the
contrary. The UPDF neither informs nor coordinates with the UN nor
requests support from the UN in its actions. UNDP and other donors
strongly urge these operations to cease and to return to agreed
strategies.
In 2006 UNDP began
work on an independent community development and human security project
in the Karamoja region, one component of which was the encouragement of
voluntary disarmament. The project was budgeted initially for $1
million, to be financed from UNDP’s Uganda country office [Due to a
misunderstanding on my part I erroneously identified to you in our
conversation Tuesday the government of Denmark as a funder of this
project.] Only $293,000 has been spent to date and all UNDP activities
in the region are now halted, given that they are unworkable at this
time, for the reasons noted.
Regarding your query
as to specific reports of human rights abuses and other incidents in
the region: UNDP, as stressed in our previous conversations, does not
have the mandate or capacity to carry out investigations of human
rights abuses. UNDP has no staff working in the villages cited in your
question and no direct knowledge therefore of these particular
incidents. However, UNDP is aware of these reports, takes them
seriously, and, as noted above, has conveyed its concerns about UPDF
actions in the Karamoja region to Ugandan national authorities and
suspended work its own work in the region.
There is
extensive information about UNDP’s DDRR work and the funding of such on
our website: www.undp.org/bcpr/whats_new/publications.shtml. Please
bear in mind however that our (now suspended) work in NE Uganda is not
a DDRR program, which typically take place in post-conflict situations
with international involvement and oversight, usually in the context of
the presence of a peacekeeping force. As we have discussed, none of
this is the case in northeastern Uganda.
William Orme
Chief, External
Communications
United Nations
Development Programme
There is much on which to follow
up.
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