KAMPALA, Feb 25, 2004 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Ugandan parliament Wednesday passed a motion declaring the war ravaged northern part of the country as humanitarian disaster areas.
The motion was tabled Tuesday by member of parliament (MP) for Mwengye South and also chairperson of legal and parliamentary affairs Dora Byamukma.
Speaker of Parliament Edward Ssekandi put the motion to vote Wednesday where majority of MPs decided to declare the areas as disaster areas.
After the voting, Byamukma said the government can now access international intervention.
However, Minister of Defense Amama Mbabazi said that international invention is not an answer to the problem, adding that parliament should not call for something which will not work and might have some effects.
The motion was passed after the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels raided an internally displaced persons camp in Lira district, northern Uganda, killing a large number of innocent civilians last Saturday.
There are varying estimates of the number of those killed at the camp. The district authorities say the number now tops 200, while the government says that 80 civilians and four militiamen were killed during the attack.
Over 1 million people have been displaced and over 20,000 children abducted by the LRA rebels in their 18-year-old rebellion in northern Uganda.