Uganda to open southern Sudan routes for UN peacekeepers

KAMPALA, Jun 24, 2005 (Xinhua) — Uganda has agreed to open transit routes in southern Sudan to allow the deployment of 10,000 United Nations peacekeepers in the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) operation zone and other areas.

Uganda’s Defense Minister Amama Mbabazi was quoted by local media on Friday as saying that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special representative to Sudan, Jan Pronk, on Wednesday met defense and foreign affairs officials in Kampala over the issue.

“Pronk came with a delegation to discuss deployment of UN peacekeepers in areas of UPDF presence. The UN requested Uganda to avail facilities to transport the peacekeepers and their equipment and we agreed,” Amama was quoted as saying.

He noted that Uganda is happy to help because peace is coming to southern Sudan, which is also good for peace in Uganda, where rebels of the Lords Resistance Army have been fighting the Ugandan government in northern region for the last 19 years.

UPDF operates in some parts of southern Sudan under a protocol with the Khartoum government that allows the army to fight the LRA who have their bases in the region.

Mbabazi said Pronk’s delegation and Ugandan officials have agreed to coordinate their operations.

In March, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to send 10, 000 troops and over 700 civilian police to southern Sudan for an initial period of six months to support the peace agreement between Khartoum and Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/Army, which ended more than two decades of civil strife.