Rebel group crosses into Uganda from Sudan: army

KAMPALA, Sept 3 (AFP) — The Ugandan army claimed on Wednesday that over 100 heavily armed Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have crossed into northern Uganda from Sudan.

“A group of LRA fighters headed by a rebel commander called Odiambo crossed over from southern Sudan three days ago, carrying with them big boxes containing arms and ammunition,” army spokesman Lieutenant Chris Magezi told AFP by telephone from the northern town of Lira.

Magezi said the group, estimated at between 100 and 150 fighters, was trying to link up with LRA’s second in command Vincent Otti, who is based in a game park near the border with Uganda.

The claim comes at a time when the LRA appears to have stepped up its brutal campaign in the north and northeastern Uganda, where they have been raiding villages and killing people.

On Monday, they ambushed a passenger bus in Soroti district and killed 25 passengers, including a Roman Catholic priest.

Magezi said the army has also intensified its hunt for the insurgents, saying that five were killed on Tuesday in two separate battles.

“We killed four during a battle at Otuku in Kitgum and we lost two soldiers, while two were injured,” Magezi said.

He said that in Pader district, the rebels tried to attack Pulanga displaced people’s camp, but were beaten off.

Some 12 rebels and 17 civilians have been killed in the past week in Lira district, he said.

The LRA has battled government forces in northern Uganda since 1988, ostensibly to replace President Yoweri Museveni’s secular government with one based on the biblical Ten Commandments.

But their campaign has been marked by brutality against the civilian population, the maiming and killing of thousands and the abduction of young boys for forced recruitment into rebel ranks and girls to become concubines for rebel commanders.

Over 800,000 people have been displaced by the conflict, with most living in precarious condition in camps dotting the region.