Uganda resumes offensive against LRA rebels
Oct 4, 2006 (GULU, Uganda) — The Ugandan army said on Wednesday it had resumed an offensive against Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in northern Uganda, complicating peace talks aimed at ending one of Africa’s most vicious wars.
But an army spokesman insisted that renewed operations to hunt down LRA fighters should not hinder negotiations in neighbouring south Sudan between the two sides.
“Following the expiry of the cessation of hostilities requiring the rebels to assemble, we have resumed operations against LRA remnants in northern Uganda,” army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye told Reuters.
Any LRA fighters in northern Uganda who had failed to assemble at two locations under a truce that expired on Sept. 19 would be “dealt with militarily”, he said. “This has nothing to do with the peace process which should continue.”
In response, LRA deputy leader Vincent Otti told Reuters the LRA would defend themselves against any Ugandan UPDF army attack, but remained committed to the peace talks.
Otti said there were still some rebels hiding out in remote areas of northern Uganda because poor communications meant they had not received orders to gather at the camps.
“Those who are left in northern Uganda will not do any harm to the UPDF. They will not attack civilians, we will not ambush vehicles, but if the UPDF attacks us we will defend ourselves,” Otti said by satellite telephone from the bush near the Sudan-Congo border.
“But for us, we don’t want to fight, we want to talk,” he added in the interview with a Reuters reporter in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu.
There were no reports of any new clashes in the north.
TWO-DECADE CONFLICT
The LRA launched one of the world’s most brutal insurrections from northern Uganda 20 years ago before moving to southern Sudan and lately hiding in the jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Talks between Ugandan government negotiators and LRA representatives in neighbouring southern Sudan were widely viewed as the best chance to end the conflict that has killed tens of thousands and uprooted nearly two million more.
Hopes for peace had soared when a truce was signed in August, but rebels missed a deadline for gathering commanders and fighters at two assembly points in southern Sudan.
Talks stalled last week, with both sides accusing each other of violating a ceasefire agreement.
The LRA said Ugandan soldiers were surrounding the Owiny-Ki-Bul assembly area near the Sudan-Uganda border, while the government accused rebels of drifting away from the camp.
The deadlock has prevented the mediating parties in Juba from reviewing the truce, with a possibility of extending it.
Another major obstacle to progress in talks is the insistence of LRA leaders Joseph Kony and Otti that they will not leave the bush unless the International Criminal Court (ICC) drops war crimes indictments against them.
The Hague-based court has repeatedly refused to drop the charges. Kampala has appealed to the United States to back Uganda at the United Nations to hunt the LRA, while stating its commitment to talks.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, has advocated a two-pronged approach to the LRA — talks if they are serious, but an iron fist if they fail.
(Reuters)