Kampala — A refugee rights group yesterday asked the government to end Operation Iron Fist.

It also accused donors of 'silence' as a humanitarian catastrophe rages in northern Uganda.

US-based Refugees International (RI) said in a report that the Uganda government must commit fully to negotiations possibly under the United Nations.

The report comes on the heels of another damning report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) detailing atrocities by rebels and civilian suffering at the hands of the army.

RI says that, "The world is not aware that half a million people are displaced. This is a humanitarian crisis. There's a generation of people who've lived in [Internally Displaced People's] camps."

Quoting a UN official, RI adds: "But donors don't want to portray Uganda as another African country that is going down the drain. Because they give so much to Uganda, donors have a political motivation [to] make sure that it is seen as a success story."

It says that when "people think of Uganda they think not of conflict but of one of the few success stories" in Africa.

The international community upholds Uganda as "a development star" and an oasis of stability amidst a continent in turmoil, it says.

"Donors should publicly call for an end to Operation Iron Fist and pressure the government of Uganda to commit to negotiations," says the report.

It adds: "OCHA [UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs] should play a more proactive role in raising awareness of the situation in northern Uganda."

The group wants the northern insurgency to be placed under the authority of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Sudan.

The representative should also possibly play a mediation role, it says.

RI also says that donors should meet the shortfall of 35,000 metric tonnes in World Food Programme supplies necessary to meet the food needs of northern Uganda.

RI was formed in 1979 in the US as a "global voice for the world's dispossessed".

Its first campaign was to force former US President Jimmy Carter to send the US Navy to rescue Indo-Chinese refugees who were escaping by boat.