Uganda urges South Sudan to stop food supplies to rebel LRA

Oct 29, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Ugandan government urged southern Sudan government to stop food supplies to the rebel LRA in a move to press them to join the designated assembly points.

State minister for defence Ruth Nankabirwa has said Uganda wants the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) to stop supplying food and other items to Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who are still outside the designated assembly points.

The Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CHA) provides that the rebels must assemble at Owiny Kibul and at Ri-Kwangba in South Sudan. The rebels, however, only picked supplies in Owiny Kibul and disappeared. They have since rejected the area, claiming that it is mined and surrounded by the UPDF.

“The two teams have agreed to amend the CHA and they are working on it now. The fact that the rebels collected food from Owiny Kibul does not mean that they assembled,” Nankabirwa said during press conference at the Media Centre yesterday.

“We would like to see an amendment that makes the collection of food by LRA that are not assembled a violation of the agreement,” she added.

She said assembling means reporting to the centres, registering and being looked after in terms of security and feeding.

She said the addendum for the amendment was set to be signed yesterday or today, adding that it would specify sanctions against any violation and the obligations of the Government of South Sudan.

Nankabirwa regretted last week’s attacks near Juba and partially attributed them to the LRA.

“We are investigating the attacks. Partial results indicate there are other groups in Southern Sudan that are involved, maybe groups that do not want the peace talks to succeed.

“Those could be people who are entrepreneurs of violence, who gain from the violence,” she added.

(New Vision)