Information on the Amuka militia is scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Recent reports refer to Amuka as militia group, which fights against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) alongside the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) (New Vision 24 Dec. 2003; ibid. 8 Dec. 2003; The Monitor 15 Jan. 2004). Based in Lira district in northern Uganda (Unites Nations 7 Jan. 2004; Monitor 15 Jan. 2004; New Vision 8 Dec. 2003) and estimated to have thousands of recruits, Amuka militias are mainly formed by former soldiers (United nations 7 Jan. 2004) who are trained by Ugandan army officers (New Vision 24 Dec. 2003; The Monitor 15 Jan. 2004).

No information on the existence of the Amuka militia during the year 2002 could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

The Monitor [Kampala]. 15 January 2004. Wacha, Joe. "7,000 Amuka Militia to Confront Kony." http://allafrica.com/stories/200401150069.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2004]

New Vision [Kampala]. 24 December 2003. Ayiga Ondoga, Albert. "Amuka Militia Trains 8,000." http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200312240381.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2004]

_____. 8 December 2003. Ocwich, Denis. "10,000 Amuka Fighters Training."

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http://allafrica.com/stories/200312080432.html." [Accessed 28 Jan. 2004]

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United Nations. Office for the Coordination on Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 7 January 2004"Humanitarian Update - Uganda, Volume V, Issue XII: LRA Reduce Activities in Teso." http://www.reliefweb.int [Accessed 30 Jan. 2004]

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential

Africa Research Bulletin

Dialog

IRB Databases

Jeune Afrique/L'intelligent

Mondes rebelles. 2002.

Resource Centre country file. Uganda

Websites, including:

Africatime

Allafrica

Amnesty International

BBC Africa

European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI)

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Indian Ocean Newsletter

MISNA

ReliefWeb.