*** "REBELS" KILL 60**



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Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:04 AM
Subject: Accept Outside Help On Rebels


Accept Outside Help On Rebels


    
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The Monitor (Kampala)

EDITORIAL
November 11, 2003 
Posted to the web November 11, 2003 

Kampala 

Suspected rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army are reported to have killed more than 60 people in various parts of Lira District at the close of last week, capping days of renewed rebel activity.

The army is disputing the number of the dead and wondering why the rebels are carrying out 'revenge killings' in Lira. Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza finds it strange that these massacres are not happening in Kaberamaido where the army says rebel commander, Yadin Tabuley was killed.

The reported death of Tabuley is still in dispute with some reports saying the man was injured in a firefight with the army.

But with this spate of killings northern Uganda's suffering is now even closer to home. The reported brutality of the rebels, mass displacement of civilians, fracturing of the society and almost irretrievable disruption of socio-economic activity has surpassed the level of shocking.

It is just as well that visiting UN Under Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs, Mr Jan Egeland; was left totally aghast by the painful sight that confronted him in Kitgum. He rightly described the situation as "one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world".

Egeland intends to report that the crisis is of such proportions that it must urgently attract international attention.

His sentiments are exactly the ones that have been held by sections of the political class in this ravaged sub-region. Sadly, government has repeatedly rejected calls for help from the international community - some say because it would be like an admission of failure. But maybe the time has come for the government to think about this suggestion.

As a country, we are faced with an apparently intractable force running around the countryside, sometimes venturing into towns, killing and maiming innocents at will. The national army has done well in cases but it is obvious that that is not enough. There seems to be an inability to anticipate and head off rebel attacks.

So much blood has been shed in Kitgum, Gulu, Lira, Pader, Apac and now parts of Teso. How much more blood must soak the soils of these parts before all options are explored to end this conflict? Foreign assistance is one option that increasingly seems attractive.

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