Probe Northern Warfare â€" MPs

THE parliamentary defence committee has recommended that Parliament forms a select committee to probe the war in northern Uganda that has persisted for 16 years.Milton Olupot reports that the committee chaired by Simon Mayende (Samia Bugwe South) on Thursday expressed concern over the failure by the Government to end the war with the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) lead by Joseph Kony. The MPs said a lasting solution should be sought urgently.The Sixth Parliament formed a similar committee but war persisted.Capt. David Matovu (Kooki) said the Government fought and won all its wars and had successfully negotiated peace with opposition groups, but this very one was elusive.“The Movement Government has fought wars, all rebel groups have talked peace. What is unique with this one? There must be something that we are not seeing. There is need to go deeper. Is it a deliberate effort by the UPDF not to end the war?” he wondered.The committee decided that a select committee be constituted by Parliament to look at the past success stories of the army weaknesses, allegations of commanders exploiting the war situation and the lack of mobilisation of people against the rebellion.The committee observed that the northern area MPs accused the Government of not doing enough, and yet it had done all possible and counter accuses the MPs of failing to adequately mobilise the local population against the rebellion.Members agreed that the committee would look at the reports made by various organs to identify the loopholes. Ends