Ugandan troops have tortured and killed civilians in operations against cattle rustlers in a remote northeast region, a human rights group said today.
Soldiers have long plagued Karamoja, an impoverished semi-arid area bordering Kenya and south Sudan that is notorious for looting, ambushes and livestock raids.
"The Ugandan government has every right to get guns out of the hands of ordinary citizens, but its soldiers must still obey the law," Elizabeth Evenson, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said in a report released by the New York-based advocacy group.
Human Rights Watch report
Human Rights Watch said its publication was based on some 50 witness accounts of Ugandan military operations in Karamoja in the last year, plus visits to the sites of six operations.
It said witnesses described troops shooting dead three children, severely beating men to force them to uncover hidden weapons, and using armoured cars to flatten homesteads.
"Ugandan soldiers have tortured and unlawfully killed civilians during law enforcement operations in the Karamoja region," the report said.
Ugandan officials have in the past denied similar allegations.
In April, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, accused Uganda of using indiscriminate and excessive force causing the death of civilians in Karamoja.
But last week, her office said that since then there had been a "marked reduction" in human rights violations, road ambushes and illegal firearms in Uganda's poorest region.