Key developments
since March 1999: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Uganda on 1
August 1999. There have been allegations of Ugandan use of mines in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the June 2000 battle for
Kisangani. Uganda denies any use. There is evidence of use of antipersonnel
mines in 1999 and early 2000 by Lord’s Resistance Army rebels entering
Uganda from Sudan. There is no organized mine clearance underway in Uganda, but
mine awareness activities are better coordinated and expanding. Mine casualties
dropped significantly in 1999. Uganda has not submitted its Article 7 report,
due on 28 January 2000.
Mine Ban Policy
Uganda signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997 and submitted its instrument of ratification to the UN on 25 February 1999.
The treaty thus entered into force for Uganda on 1 August 1999. The government
has not yet put implementation legislation in place. According to the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, under Ugandan law, the treaty is merely persuasive and not
binding until domestic legislation has been
passed.[1] Landmine Monitor was
informed that the treaty has been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs for incorporation into domestic law, but the process is a
long one, passing first through the cabinet and then to parliament for
enactment.[2] No timetable was
given for this process.[3]
Uganda participated in the First Meeting of States Parties in Maputo,
Mozambique on 3-7 May 1999. The government has not participated in any of the
intersessional meetings of the Standing Committees of Experts of the MBT. NGOs
and other agencies in the country have been actively involved in promoting
ratification and effective implementation and monitoring of the
treaty.[4]
Uganda’s Article 7 Report to the UN was due on 28 January 2000. The
Ministry of Defense is responsible for preparing the report, then providing it
to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.[5]
Uganda voted for December 1999 UN General Assembly resolution 54/54 B
promoting the treaty, as it had on past pro-ban UNGA resolutions in 1996, 1997,
and 1998.
The government is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons but has
not ratified its Amended Protocol II
(1996).[6] Uganda is not a member
of the Conference on Disarmament.
Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling
Uganda claims to have stopped production of AP
mines and to have destroyed all AP mines manufactured at the government-owned
National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) at
Nakasongora.[7] Brigadier Ivan
Koreta,Director General, Internal Security Organization (ISO), and
Lt. Katsigazi in December 1999 affirmed that the production line at NEC has been
completely converted into production of dry cell batteries. An independent
inspection of the facility has yet to be made, and to date, the batteries have
not been introduced into the market nor is their brand name
known.[8]
According to the U.S. State Department, NEC, “built with aid from
China's Wabao Engineering Corporation, makes ammunition and small arms. Uganda
claims it stopped production of landmines in 1995, but reports persist that the
factory still produces them and provides them to consumers in the Central
Africa/Great Lakes
region.”[9] Landmine
Monitor is unaware of any reports of continued production of AP mines.
Previous imports of AP mines were from various sources including Russia and
Korea.[10] Military officials say
that a large quantity of AP mines and UXOs have been gathered from different
army units around the country by the UPDF and transferred to Jinja Army Depot
for storage pending
destruction.[11] In January 2000,
it was reported that an unidentified Ugandan official said that there are 50,000
AP mines stockpiled and that their destruction has
begun.[12] The military is
reportedly seeking assistance in destroying this stockpile because it lacks the
capacity to do so.[13]
Government Use
The Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda People’s
Defense Forces (UPDF) has issued an order to all UPDF unit commanders
prohibiting the use of AP
mines.[14] A Ugandan official has
stated to Landmine Monitor that the UPDF is not using AP mines against the
various rebel groups that operate out of Sudan (Lord’s Resistance
Army-LRA, Uganda National Rescue Front-UNRF, West Nile Bank Front-WNBF) or the
Allied Democratic Front (ADF), which operatesfrom the Democratic
Republic of Congo.[15] There has
been no credible evidence that the government has used mines inside
Uganda.[16]
In 1999 and 2000 the Namibian Defense Ministry and others accused Uganda of
laying mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC).[17] There were reports of
use of mines in June 2000 in the hostilities between Rwanda and Uganda over the
city of Kisangani, held by the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) forces.
(See Landmine Monitor Report 2000--Democratic Republic of Congo). A UN
official told Landmine Monitor that Uganda and Rwanda had both used mines in the
fighting over Kisangani.[18] The
RCD rebels claim that Rwandan and Ugandan troops left more than 4,000
antipersonnel landmines in the town after clashing there from 5-11 June, but
state that they have found most of the mines close to a former Ugandan army base
on the road to Bangoka
airport.[19] These accusations
have not been verified.
In December 1999, military officers interviewed for this report insisted that
the UPDF is under strict instructions against the use of AP
mines.[20]
It is uncertain if Congolese rebels who collaborate with UPDF use
antipersonnel mines. The ICBL has expressed concern that a Mine Ban Treaty State
Party, such as Uganda, may be violating the treaty by virtue of participating in
a joint military operation with another entity, such as Congolese rebels, that
uses antipersonnel mines in that operation. Under Article 1 of the Mine Ban
Treaty, a State Party may not “under any circumstance...assist, encourage
or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity that is prohibited to a
State Party under this Convention.”
Uganda should make clear the nature of its support for other armed forces
that may be using antipersonnel mines, and make clear its views with regard to
the legality under the Mine Ban Treaty of its joint military operations with
these armed forces. As a party to the treaty, Uganda should state categorically
that it will not participate in joint operations with any force that uses
antipersonnel mines.
Rebel Use
Landmine Monitor obtained eyewitness accounts of
the use of AP mines by the LRA and ADF rebels during 1999 and in
January-February 2000. Landmine Monitor research in Gulu District suggests that
the LRA were using AP mines to avenge attacks on their families and
relatives.[21] Local media also
reported new use of mines by rebels infiltrating Gulu and Kitgum Districts in
December 1999 and February 2000. In one incident, four people were injured by
AP mines in Ngotoo Park, Kitgum District, as they were returning to the Lacekot
Camp for IDPs after collecting
food.[22]
Police and UPDF sources based in Gulu also reported that during a new
incursion of LRA rebels from Sudan in February 2000, unknown quantities of AP
mines were brought over the border and subsequently used by the rebels.
Survivors were reportedly being admitted to hospitals in Gulu and Kitgum
Districts. They also reported that the rebels had brought with them new types
of AP mines, which they claimed had wounded some rebels trying to lay them
because they were unfamiliar with the
devices.[23]
In February 2000, UPDF Major-General Jeje Odongo reported that his forces had
killed twenty-six LRA rebels and captured twenty-eight others with an assortment
of weapons including twenty-five AT mines and AP mines during a December
incursion.[24]
On 16 January 2000, UPDF and police captured two SPLA (Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement) commanders in Arua town in northwestern Uganda in a raid
that had been prompted by finding two antipersonnel mines in an Arua township
villages two weeks
earlier.[25]
On 11 June 2000, the Ugandan army reported killing six LRA rebels in the
northern part of the country who were attempting to cross back into Sudan with a
number of Ugandan villagers who had been abducted by the rebels. Weapons,
including four antipersonnel mines, were recovered in the
operation.[26]
Mine Action Funding
A number of organizations are indirectly
contributing to humanitarian mine
action.[27] These include the
Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), UNICEF, WHO, World Vision, Save the
Children-Denmark, International Service Volunteers Association (AVSI), Jesuit
Refugee Service, National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), Action
Aid, and Medicines sans Frontiers. Government departments are also
involved.[28]
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), through the Canadian
Network for Injury Survey (CNIS), contributed US$66,000 to the Injury Control
Center-Uganda (ICC-U) for two years in 1999 for mine awareness, first aid
training, landmine situation analysis, and anthropological research on landmines
in Gulu and Arua districts. The International Physicians for the Prevention of
Nuclear War (IPPNW) made a contribution of US$5,000 for a landmine injury
survey, mine awareness, training, and victim assistance (1999-2000) through
AMHEC (IPPNW-Uganda). In addition the Charity Project, through MAG (UK),
provided US$3,500 to AMHEC for strengthening the Uganda Campaign to Ban
Landmines (UCBL) and for its mine awareness education.
At present there is no policy, strategy, or practice concerning allocation
and use of mine action funds or in-kind contributions. However, some of the
NGOs and Ministry of Health have formed an informal committee on landmines,
chaired by the Ministry of Health, which plans to use donated funds in a
transparent and coordinated manner.
Uganda has not directly received any funding or in-kind contributions for
mine action programs. There is no domestic budget for mine
action.[29] At present it is not
possible to quantify the need because the magnitude of the landmine problem is
not completely known; the situation is complicated by the fact that the LRA uses
mines in a random fashion and thus any specific mined areas are unknown. No
survey has been carried out to assess the
problem.[30]
Mine Clearance
A special unit of the mechanized battalion of the
UPDF carries out mine clearance whenever an area is suspected to have a mine
problem.[31] There is no on-going
survey, marking or clearing of mines, and at present there is no national mine
clearance plan or mine clearance priorities. Some important areas like roads
have been cleared.[32] According
to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Ugandan military
acquired a Chubby mine clearing vehicle from South Africa in
1999.[33]
Mine Awareness
The main mine action operations in Uganda are
coordinated by the Uganda Campaign to Ban Landmines (UCBL) and the Ministry of
Health and mainly are programs for mine awareness and victim assistance. The
cooperative effort between the UCBL and Ministry of Health has a loose mandate
to coordinate the relevant organizations. The Ministry of Health coordinates
first aid training, and continuing medical care and rehabilitation activities.
Both the UCBL and the Ministry of Health are responsible for all affected areas
in the country but do not have specific funding for
coordination.[34]
Mine awareness or risk education programs are under way in the country. Mine
awareness is being undertaken by NGOs, including AMHEC, Injury Control Center
Uganda (ICC-U), Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health
(UNACOH), AVSI, URCS, the UN field office, and the ICRC, as well as the UPDF and
various ministries.[35] These
projects are in the mine-affected districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Kasese, Bundibugyo
and Fort Portal. The ICC-U, IPPNW, ICRC, and AVSI fund the NGO programs, and
the government funds the UPDF and Ministry of Health programs. The UN country
office also funds a limited training program on mine awareness.
Mine awareness programs initially were not well coordinated and targeted, but
currently activities are coordinated and targeted toward communities and
displaced people most at risk. So far twenty mine awareness educators have been
trained for Gulu and thirteen for Kitgum districts. Funds allowing, it is
planned to have 125 trainers for Gulu District and 100 trainers for Kitgum
District, by the end of August 2000, to train more groups of people as mine
awareness educators at the grassroots level.
This coordinated program has also used the print and electronic media.
Awareness messages have been prepared, translated into the local language (Luo)
and field-tested, and have been printed on posters, ready for distribution
throughout the two main affected districts. The printing was paid for by
UNICEF.
The actual number of people who have received mine awareness education is not
known. The coordinated programs adhere to both National and International
guidelines, such as those of UNICEF. A preliminary mine awareness assessment
was conducted by ICC-Uganda in July and August 1999 among communities in Gulu
district prior to mine awareness activities, which indicated low levels of mine
awareness and negative attitudes to mine victims. Post-program evaluation is
contemplated.
Landmine Casualties
Many people have been killed and maimed by AP mines
especially in northern (Kitgum, Gulu and Adjumani districts) and western Uganda
(Kasese district), but there is no centralized information about the number of
mine victims.[36] At the Gulu
Orthopedic Workshop, which was rehabilitated by the Italian NGO AVSI and handed
over to the Ugandan Ministry of Health, 201 out of the 622 amputee patients
recorded by November 1999 were landmine
victims.[37]
Landmine Monitor Report 1999 had reported a decreasing trend in mine
victims in Kitgum and Gulu districts between
1996-1998.[38] During 1999 it
appears that the number of landmine casualties has continued to decrease. A
survey was carried out in the affected districts covering the period between
January 1999 and April 2000. In Kitgum hospital no new mine injuries were
recorded between March and December
1999.[39] According to Dr. J.J.
Kilama, Acting Medical Superintendent at Gulu hospital, no new mine casualties
were reported there between March and December
1999.[40] This was corroborated
by the UN country report.
Although no new mine victims were treated in the district hospitals of Kitgum
and Gulu by December 1999, Landmine Monitor received information from the local
community and health staff that a few isolated mine incidents occurred during
the early part of 1999 in remote areas on the border with Sudan, and the victims
died before getting medical
attention.[41]
The reduction in mine incidents may be because most of the people in the two
districts have been living in protected
villages;[42] also, rebel
activities have declined in the past two years. Data gathered by the Landmine
Monitor from Kasese district, where ADF rebels are most active, showed a decline
in casualties too: from seventeen casualties in 1997 and twenty-eight in 1998,
to only one in 1999.[43] A few
cases were reported from Kabarole and Bundibugyo districts in 1998, but none in
1999.[44]
In the West Nile region (north-western Uganda) in Arua, Moyo, Adjumani and
Nebbi districts the pattern is the same, with very few new mine casualties 1999
(i.e., at Arua Hospital three, Nebbi Hospital one, and none from Angal, Adjumani
and Moyo Hospitals, but Moyo Hospital did report two cases involving antitank
mines). Also according to records from the two military hospitals at Bombo and
Mbuya, no new AP mine casualties were reported in 1999.
Casualty figures increased after 22 December 1999, when a group of about some
200 LRA rebels crossed back into Kitgum and Gulu districts in Uganda from Sudan
and started terrorizing civilians, resulting in new casualties being reported
and property destroyed.[45]
One of the victims, Mika
Otto[46] a teacher in Lacekot
sub-county, Kitgum district, died and another victim, James Odok, 42, was
hospitalized in Gulu Hospital with his right foot blown off, plus multiple
wounds on his buttocks and his left
foot.[47] There was another
incursion of the LRA from Sudan in February 2000 according to local NGOs based
in Gulu. The total number of people wounded or killed by mines is not known but
is small compared to the population of the areas affected and Uganda
overall.
Survivor Assistance
The rights of the disabled are protected by
Uganda's Constitution and eight disability
laws.[48] Funding of health care
and medical treatment in Uganda for the disabled comes either directly from the
government or through donations through government
ministries.[49] Additionally,
there is an inter-ministerial committee on disability, which involves three
ministries: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social
Development; and the Ministry of Education and Sports; the National Union of
Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) serves as the secretary of the committee.
Also, a National Disability Council, which is to coordinate all disability
efforts in the country, is being established through legislation that is about
to be presented to the parliament.
The Uganda Veterans Assistance Board (UVAB) is an association of veteran
soldiers that works with the government. It has a medical rehabilitation
program for soldiers who get disabled during war. The victims can obtain
assistance through a program funded by the Danish International Development
Association. The UPDF has a casualty unit in Mubende specifically for disabled
soldiers and a smaller one in Nakasongola. The Ministry of Defense also has its
own military hospitals at Mbuya, Gulu and Bombo, where the government funds
services for the disabled soldiers.
Orthopedic workshops, such as those in Mulago, Mbale, Gulu, Fort Portal, and
Mbarara University produce devices for the disabled, which must be paid for by
the individuals who need them. While services for the disabled are quite
costly, they can receive a fifty percent subsidy through NUDIPU, the Government,
and and other organizations.
[1] Interview with Mrs. Eunice Kigenyi
Irungu, Foreign Service Officer, Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(MOFA), Kampala, 19 December 1999. [2]
Ibid. [3] Interview with Mrs. E.K. Irungu,
MOFA, Kampala, 27 April 2000. [4] This
includes UNICEF, URCS, IPPNW- Uganda, AVSI, UNACOH, and
SCF-Norway. [5] Interview with Mrs. E.K.
Irungu, MOFA, Kampala, 27 April 2000. [6]
Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
90-96. [7] Interview with Brig. Ivan
Koreta, Director General, International Security Organization (ISO), and Lt.
Katsigazi, Kampala, 23 December 1999. [8]
Ibid. [9] “Arms Flows to Central
Africa/Great Lakes,” Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of Intelligence and
Research, U.S. Department of State, November 1999, available at:
www.state.gov/www/global/arms/bureau_pm/fs_9911_armsflows.html. [10]
Interview with Brig. Ivan Koreta and Lt. Katsigazi, Kampala, 23 December
1999. [11]
Ibid. [12] The East African, 19 January
2000. [13]
Ibid. [14] Interview with Brig. Ivan
Koreta, and Lt. Katsigazi, Kampala, 23 December
1999. [15] Interview with Mrs. E.K. Irungu
, Kampala, 19 December 1999. [16]
Interviews in March and April 2000 with local people and leaders in Gulu during
mine awareness workshops. [17] The East
African, 17-23 January 2000. [18]
Telephone interview with UN official in Kisangani, 28 July
2000. [19] “Rebels say more than
4,000 Mines Left in Kisangani,” AFP (Kisangani), 21 July 2000, in
FBIS. [20] Interview with Brig. Ivan
Koreta and Lt. Katsigazi, Kampala, 23 December
1999. [21] Patricia Spittal, Canadian
Network for International Surgery/ICC- Uganda, views from group discussions,
(unpublished data). [22] Community-based
NGOs in Gulu and Kitgum districts and local leaders stated that the LRA planted
these mines. [23] These reports have been
supported by various sources from Kitgum and Gulu districts, for example,
participants who have been attending mine awareness education workshops in Gulu
town (March and April, 2000). See, Patricia Spittal, (unpublished data) -
District & Community Leaders, Medical workers, Mass Media (December 1999 -
April 2000, Gulu). [24] Justin Moro and J.
Oweka, “Sudan Relocates Kony Camp,” New Vision, 3 February
2000. [25] “Uganda: Northwest
officials to send suspected Sudanese rebel commanders home,” The Monitor
(newspaper), as reported by BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 22 January
2000. [26] “Uganda army kills rebel
guerrillas,” Reuters (Kampala), 11 June
2000. [27] “Indirect” support
refers to the fact that some organizations assist mine victims and/or affected
communities through their primary activities, which have not been specifically
targeting mine victims. [28] These include
Gender, Labor and Social Development, Disaster Preparedness and Defense and
Health. Interview with Mrs. M. A. Nadimo, Ministry of Refugees and Disaster
Preparedness, Kampala, 21 December
1999. [29] Interview with Mrs. M.A.
Nadimo, Ministry of Refugees & Disaster Preparedness, Kampala, 21 December
1999; interview with Peter Oyaro, Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social
Development, Kampala, 20 December
1999. [30] Faxed messages from Daouda
Toure, UN Resident Coordinator; interview with Lt. Katsigazi, ISO, Kampala, 5
December 1999. [31] Lieutenant Magara,
Public Relations Officer, 4th Division, UPDF Gulu, Gulu (town), February
2000. [32] Faxed messages from Daouda
Toure, UN Resident Coordinator; interview with Lt. Katsigazi, ISO, Kampala, 5
December 1999. [33] The East African, 19
January 2000. [34] Faxed messages from
Daouda Toure, UN-Resident Coordinator; interview with Lt. Katsigazi , Kampala, 5
December 1999. [35] Ministries of Health,
Labor, Gender & Social
Development. [36] Faxed messages from
Daouda Toure, UN Resident Coordinator; interview with Lt. Katsigazi, ISO,
Kampala, 5 December 1999. [37] The East
African, 19 January 2000. [38] Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, pp. 94-95. [39]
Hospital records – Kitgum, 1999, reviewed in visit during survey
period. [40] Interview with Dr.
J.J.Kilama, Acting Medical Superintendent, Gulu Hospital, during survey
period. [41] Interviews with medical
personnel, Kitgum, during survey period; Daouda Toure, UN Resident
Coordinator. [42] Protected villages are
camps for the internally displaced protected by security
forces. [43] Hospital records, Kagando
Hospital, Kilembe Hospital, St. John's Ambulance, Kasese, reviewed in visit
during survey period. [44] Virika
Hospital, Kaborole Hospital, DDHs-Kabarole, Fort Portal Orthopedic Workshop,
visited during survey period. [45] New
Vision, 2 January 2000; The Daily Monitor, 4 January
2000. [46] The Daily Monitor, 4 January
2000. [47]
Ibid. [48] Uganda Constitution and various
acts of Parliament. [49] Interview with
Benson Ndeziboneye, NUDIPU, Kampala, 4 January 2000; interview with Peter Oyaro,
Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, Kampala, 20 December
1999.
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