Sudanese civil society petitions UN, Sudan, Uganda over rebels
April 2, 2006 (NAIROBI) — The Sudanese civil society organizations on Saturday petitioned the United Nations and governments of Sudan and Uganda to help decimate insurgents from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that has waged a brutal war in northern region.
In an open letter addressed to the UN and governments of Sudan and Uganda, The New Sudanese Indigenous NGOs Network (NESI Network) , an umbrella body comprising 66 organizations condemned the LRA atrocities which it said poses serious threat to the implementation of the southern Sudan peace deal.
“The rebel group has in the past caused serious insecurity, not only in Uganda but also southern Sudan. Now its continued existence poses a serious threat to the sustenance of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA),” the organizations said.
“We want the UN to revise and review the mandate of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in order to give it the power to deal with the LRA threat as well as make it proactive enough to act on potential security threats in Sudan including Darfur in the West as well as Eastern Sudan,” they said.
The LRA, which has waged a 20-year war against the government of Uganda, operates from bases in northern Uganda and southern Sudan, and frequently targets southern Sudanese civilians.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, thousands brutally attacked and some 1.6 million people, about 80 percent of the northern Ugandan population, have been driven from their homes in fear of the LRA, which is known for its brutal treatment of civilians.
The conflict has dragged on despite attempts to mediate a peaceful resolution and last year the International Criminal Court indicted five of the group’s leaders, including its elusive supremo, Joseph Kony, on war crimes charges.
(Xinhua)