Sudanese army attacks Ugandan rebels in south Sudan- report
The New Vision
KAMPALA, Apr 10, 2005 — The Sudan People’s Armed Forces (SPAF) on Saturday attacked Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel fighters in Mangala region.
Security sources said that SPAF soldiers early last week attacked the LRA rebels who were attacking Sudanese civilians in villages in Bor in the Jonglei region.
“SPAF moved in to attack and the LRA fled in disarray and are now moving in small groups to avoid further attacks,” the source said.
Early this month, Kony fled Uganda People’s Defence Forces operations in the Katire and Kit areas, through Bor towards the Sudan-Ethiopia border.
“The continued attacks by the Sudan army forced them to retreat southward,” the Sudan source said.
Ugandan security sources said SPAF soldiers raided the Mangala areas where LRA had camped, forcing the rebels to retreat southward to the Sudanese city of Juba.
“Kony and his men are now cornered. If they move southward, they will meet the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers. It is a tricky situation for them,” the Ugandan source said.
The source said Kony had expected to take advantage of the vast uninhabited swampy area, measuring over 1,000 sq. km between Bor and the border towns of Pibor and Akobo.
Army spokesman Maj Shaban Bantariza hailed the cooperation between the UPDF and the Sudan army.
“What is happening to Kony now should have happened long time ago. If the Sudan army had cooperated with us a long time ago, Kony would have been a historical issue.”
On the return of Betty Bigombe, the chief mediator between the government and the rebels, Bantariza said: “Bigombe has come to keep hope alive. The UPDF shall support her all the way.”
Meanwhile, under the terms of the Sudan peace agreement, several senior SPLA officers, including Brig Thomas Cirilo, last Friday flew to Juba for a historic joint meeting with SPAF officers to negotiate a pullout.