Guard kills at least 10 at north Uganda camp

KAMPALA, May 23 (Reuters) A Ugandan guard shot dead at least 10 people and injured about 30 others at a camp for villagers displaced by 20 years of war in the north of the country, an army spokesman said today.

The gunman, a member of a local defence militia, opened fire on the civilians at Ogwete in Lira district, one of scores of squalid settlements for 1.6 million people uprooted by the conflict with Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.

''More than 10 people were killed, but that man is now in custody and we are investigating,'' Lieutenant Chris Magezi, army spokesman for northern Uganda, told Reuters by telephone.

Local media said the gunman had been drinking heavily before getting into an argument over a woman. One Lira politician told a Ugandan newspaper the killer then went from hut to hut, shooting sleeping residents with his assault rifle.

Local militia units support troops guarding the camps in the north, where fighting has forced up to 90 per cent of people from their homes. Residents complain that the reinforcements are often poorly trained and undisciplined.

Ogwete is about 280 km northeast of Kampala.

The LRA leadership is based in neighbouring southern Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. They are wanted by the International Criminal Court, but in a surprise move this month, they called for negotiations with Uganda's government.

President Yoweri Museveni issued an Aug. 1 deadline for them to end their insurgency. But analysts saw little chance of holding substantial talks with a group that is notorious for abducting children, and has no clear political goals.

REUTERS SHR KP1710