According to a UN report released this week food security and access to healthcare, education and clean water continue to be dangerously low in the Karamoja region of Uganda. It forecasts that 700,000 Karamojong may need food aid through to the next harvest in July 2008, while over 10% of all civilians suffer from acute malnutrition. The report notes that the Ugandan military’s disarmament campaign continues to be linked to recent spikes in aggression and security incidents in the region, despite an alleged decrease in human rights abuses committed by the UPDF during the operations.

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The Ugandan military released a report today claiming that 54 civilians had been killed and 970 guns recovered during Karamoja disarmament operations in the first four months of the year. While reducing the rampant circulation and use of illegal small arms in the region should be an imperative for the Ugandan government, a wide variety of studies and sources (including those within the Ugandan government) indicate that the UPDF's forcible disarmament strategy is not the most appropriate way to do so.

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