Ugandan army says Sudan extends LRA rebel deal
Nov 23, 2005 (KAMPALA) — Sudan has renewed a deal letting Ugandan troops pursue leaders of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels deep into its territory, the two countries said on Wednesday.
The agreement extends until Jan. 19 a protocol signed last month that scrapped a 100 km (62 mile) limit on Ugandan incursions into Sudan, after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for top LRA commanders.
Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Aronda Nyakairima met Sudanese and South Sudanese officers over the weekend in Entebbe, Uganda, to agree on the extension of the deal which expired on Nov. 7, Ugandan army spokesman Capt. Paddy Ankunda said by telephone.
He said Ugandan helicopter gunships were now allowed to use air bases in the southern Sudanese towns of Juba and Yei.
A Sudanese army spokesman confirmed a deal had been reached.
The LRA — which has never given a clear account of its aims despite 19 years of war — is one of Africa’s most brutal insurgency movements.
It has uprooted at least 1.6 million people in northern Uganda and abducted more than 20,000 children to serve as fighters, porters and sex slaves.
Until the ICC warrants were issued, Ugandan forces had licence under a 2002 agreement to pursue LRA fighters up to a so-called “Red Line” 100 km inside neighbouring Sudan.
AID WORKERS ATTACKED
Ugandan military commanders have long said the cult-like group’s leader Joseph Kony is hiding north of the line.
The LRA have continued to target civilians in remote northern Uganda, killing at least 17 people in Pader district since Friday in ambushes on a truck and a commuter minibus.
Ankunda said a Ugandan army lieutenant in the area was arrested on suspicion he may have allowed the attacks through negligence. Pader is 350km north of the capital Kampala.
Underscoring the mounting threat to aid workers in the region, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said one of its drivers was shot dead in an ambush on Tuesday as he ferried patients in neighbouring Kitgum district.
Aid organisations say the recent spike in violence, which has killed at least six humanitarian staff in recent weeks, is severely affecting their ability to help displaced communities.
“These incidents threaten the assistance provided to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the conflict, who are living in deplorable conditions and barely managing to survive,” said Amaia Esparza, MSF head of mission in Uganda.
(Reuters)