Government to Sign Peace Deal With Sudan

By Patrick O. Jaramogi, The Monitor (Kampala)

MUNYONYO, Oct 06, 2003 — Uganda will sign a protocol on peace and security with Sudan during the tenth Inter-Governmental Authority on Development summit due in Kampala on October 24-25.

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, who is the current chairman of IGAD, is expected for the summit, the junior minister for Regional Co-operation, Mr Augustine Nshimye, told journalists at the Speke Hotel in Munyonyo on October 4.

“Among the topics to be discussed at the summit include the Somali peace process as well as a report on the IGAD-sponsored Sudan peace process,” he said.

Mr Nshimye said that IGAD’s mission is to bring about peace, security and development.

IGAD brings together Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Somalia.

President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique will also attend the next summit. He is the current chairman of the African Union.

President Yoweri Museveni will take over the chairmanship of IGAD during the summit.

Uganda and Sudan are having an uneasy relationship, especially over Uganda’s repeated allegations that Khartoum sponsors the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, which has waged war in northern Uganda since 1988.