UN Security Council Resolution 1653 - Ugandan children being terrorized by protectors [News]

Adopting resolution 1653 (2006) on Friday, 27 January 2006, the Council strongly condemned the activities of such groups as the Forces démocratique de liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), Burundi’s Palipehutu-Forces national de liberation (FNL) and Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which continued to attack civilians and United Nations and humanitarian personnel, as well as to commit human rights abuses against local populations. The Council reiterated its demand that all such groups lay down their arms and engage voluntarily and without delay or preconditions in their disarmament, repatriation or resettlement. For complete story: monuc.org

Resolution 1653 rightly addresses the need to maintain territorial integrity between the states in Africa's Great Lakes region as each state takes all necessary measures to enforce disarmament & demobilization of illegally armed groups like the LRA. What it doesn't address, however, is the fact that there are over 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (UNICEF estimate) forcibly placed in camps who are not only being terrorized by the LRA in Uganda, but also by the Ugandan army, police force, & the Local Defense Units (set up by the IDP camps in order to protect them from the LRA). These are legitmately armed forces in Uganda, and they're contributing to the utter lack of security in the area. What's worse is that most of these IDPs (80% of whom are women & children, UNICEF 2005) are confined to the camp & will most likely be unable to farm in time to reap returns for the Spring. Which means that the UN World Food Programme will have to provide for the 1.5 million. And though the LRA have denied this, since the ICC arrest warrants were released in Oct 2005, the LRA seems to be targetting humanitarian aid workers/resources.

This just boggles my mind & infuriates me. The Uganda government needs to run a clean operation when it comes to these IDP camps. Without legitimate law enforcement, efforts to disarm/demobilize the LRA are completely done in vain. Am I just not getting something?

My message to the UN Security Council: Yes, the LRA have guns & they should lay them down. Good, we've established that. But how many of those armed = under 18 combatants? How feasible is that they would voluntarily leave the LRA to disarm? What about the murders, rapes, beatings, & robberies that occur in the IDP camps by the army & LDUs? We'd have radically different policy formulation if we understood the situation from a child/woman's perspective. Perhaps, I'm being naive, but I'm just not moved by the Council's lack of effort.