By Tim Cocks KAMPALA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Parliamentarians from Uganda's lawless northeastern region have condemned the army's use of helicopter gunships against armed cattle raiders, saying they are escalating a conflict, local press reported on Saturday. The Karamoja region is plagued by unrest and banditry at the hands of cattle-rustling "warriors" -- some crossing from neighbouring Kenya and Sudan -- armed with cheap semi-automatic weapons that flood in from the Horn of Africa. The United Nations and charities have criticised army efforts to forcibly disarm the bandits, accusing it of using "indiscriminate and excessive" force, leading to scores of civilians deaths. In a survey of parliamentarians from the region last week, the independent Daily Monitor said many were angered by the government's use of helicopter firepower, which they said was inappropriate and risked big civilian casualties. "How can a chopper disarm cattle rustlers? Innocent people will die," parliamentarian Francis Kiyonga was quoted as saying. "We need to disarm (them) but this is not the way." The Defence Ministry has repeatedly defended tactics used to disarm Karamojong warriors such as "cordon and search" methods that local politicians criticise as too heavy handed. It says the region's conflict has gone beyond traditional tit-for-tat killing to a war against government soldiers. "What we are witnessing today in Karamoja is totally new. ... These warriors have changed tactics. They now operate under strict command and control," Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga was quoted in the Monitor as saying. But local politicians say increasingly aggressive tactics used by the army are aggravating the Karamojong warriors. "What the UPDF (Uganda People's Defence Forces) is conducting is no longer disarmament but a military operation," said Samuel Abura, head of the Karamoja Parliamentary Group. This week the Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army rebels resumed peace talks aiming at ending a vicious 20-year civil war in northern Uganda. A landmark truce signed in August has restored stability to the north, allowing a few of its 1.7 million refugees to go home. Aid agencies warn the violence in Karamoja could spill over into other regions, derailing efforts to bring lasting peace to a country with a long history of bloodshed.
