UGANDA: DISPLACED VILLAGERS UNDER ARMY PROTECTION AFTER ATTACKS BY ALLIED DEMOCRATIC FORCES (ADF) REBELS IN WESTERN UGANDA

Record ID: 355198

  • Title: UGANDA: DISPLACED VILLAGERS UNDER ARMY PROTECTION AFTER ATTACKS BY ALLIED DEMOCRATIC FORCES (ADF) REBELS IN WESTERN UGANDA
  • Date: 8th December 1999
  • Summary: (BUNDIBUGYO, UGANDA )(DECEMBER 8, 1999)(REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF HILLS PAN TO CROWDS AT SIDE OF ROAD 0.07 2. SV CHILDREN WAITING FOR FOOD 0.11 3. SLV WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME TRUCK BEING UNLOADED 0.16 4. SLV PEOPLE STANDING AROUND SACKS OF FOOD 0.19 5. SV MEN MOVING SACKS OF FOOD 0.24 6. WIDE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN SEATED WAITI
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BUNDIBUGYO, WESTERN UGANDA
  • Country: Uganda
  • Reuters ID: LVA6MH2ELW5YA4H62E1F8ZXE7Z46
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Ugandans have been killed and many more
    displaced after attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF),
    a small rebel army led by Islamic militants which is causing
    havoc in southwestern Uganda, along the border with the
    Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    The ADF, which has reputation for brutality, has fought
    the government in western Uganda since 1996 from bases in the
    picturesque Rwenzori mountains and eastern Dmocratic Republic
    of the Congo (DRC).

    The attacks by the small rebel army led by Islamic
    militants traditionally supported by Sudan have displaced more
    than 400,000 civilians in the western districts of Bundibugyo
    and Kasese.

    Displaced people are currently living under heavy military
    protection and relying on relief aid from international
    agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP) and others.

    As Ugandan soldiers showed off military equipment and
    captives whom they claimed were former ADF fighters captured
    in battle, displaced people living close to military positions
    for security told of how they had been attacked at night.

    "I was sleeping at night and then we heard gunshots and
    the enemy came into our tents and started killing
    people, as we escaped an army vehicle took us to hospital and
    there more people died." said one local man who declined to be
    named.

    Although the Ugandan Government claims to be making
    progress in the war against the rebels, in attacks over recent
    days the rebels have reportedly freed captured soldiers from
    government prisons and attacked government detachments,
    reportedly killing and injuring policemen and soldiers.

    In a pre-dawn raid on a government prison in Fort Portal,
    270 km (169 miles) from Kampala recently, the ADF freed 365
    prisoners, killed five people and burnt two prison vehicles.

    And in another attack ADF rebels attempted to overrun a
    police barracks in western Uganda according to police sources.

    A policeman was injured and four rebels killed in the two-hour
    battle that ensued, the third attack by the group in as many
    days, the police said.

    The attacks come just days after Uganda's parliament
    passed an amnesty law for all rebels to give up arms and the
    presidents of Uganda and Sudan signed an agreement pledging to
    cease support for rebel groups operating in each other's
    territories.

    By offering the amnesty, President Museveni and parliament
    hope to tempt rebel leaders into giving up their campaign or,
    failing that, effectively kill off the insurgencies by
    persuading enough commanders and fighters to give up.

    But there is no guarantee that ADF leaders will take up
    the amnesty offer or end their campaign simply because Sudan
    will not support them.Former rebel fighters recently captured
    by the army have said that many ADF commanders are Islamic
    militants determined to continue the war.


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