Ugandan army accuse rebels of violating truce
Sept 27, 2006 (KITGUM, Uganda) — More than 1,000 Ugandan rebels and one of their top commanders have left assembly points where they were to gather under a truce with the government, an army official said, describing their departure as a violation of the fragile cease-fire.
Martin Ojul, the head of the rebel team negotiating a peace deal with the government after 19 years of war, said he had no knowledge of the reported exodus. He said 2,600 LRA rebels were at the two camps with around 7,000 on the way.
Ugandan army Maj. Felix Kulayigye told journalists that the Ugandan army will launch attacks against the Lords Resistance Army fighters who left the camps in southern Sudan.
The rebels left with LRA top commander Okot Odhiambo, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Kulayigye said.
“The army will take action so that Ugandans are not disturbed by the rebels,” said Kulayigye, a spokesman for Uganda’s Defense Ministry.
The LRA is notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of innocent civilians, enslaving thousands of children and driving nearly 2 million people from their homes.
Maj. Kulayigye gave no further details of when the rebels left. He said the information was from military sources.
If confirmed, the departure of the fighters would be a major blow to ongoing talks in the southern Sudan capital Juba aimed at a comprehensive peace deal.
The cease-fire went into effect last month, calling for rebel fighters to gather at two assembly points in largely uninhabited areas across the border in southern Sudan, where they will be protected and monitored while a broader peace deal is negotiated.
The assembly points are at Ri-Kwangba, just north of the border with Congo, and Owiny-Ki-Bul, just north of the Ugandan border. Kulayigye said the rebels who left had moved 6 kilometers from Owiny-Ki-Bul and were heading toward the Nile River.
The rebels weren’t immediately available for comment, although they have claimed the Ugandan army was surrounding one of the neutral assembly points where they had gathered.
(AP/ST)