Four people killed in truck ambush in South Sudan
Jan 4, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Four people were killed in a truck ambush by unidentified group in Souther Sudan a UN report released here said. The report dismissed responsibility of local militia in the attack.
Four people were killed and six injured on 2 January when a truck carrying 40 to 50 passengers was reportedly ambushed by a large group of unarmed men on the Magwi-Nimule Road at Opari Junction (125 kilometres south of Juba), a UNMIS news bulletin reported.
No evidence of General Gabriel Tang’s troops traveling on a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) barge from Kosti (400 kilometres north of Malakal) towards Malakal, as alleged by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), has been reported.
A truce between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Equatoria region has been extended to February 2007. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni sent ten cows as a Christmas gift to the LRA, and local radio arranged for the rebels to transmit Christmas greetings to their relatives.
A joint UNMIS and UN Development Programme assessed Pibor and Lekongole for a UN-proposed voluntary civilian disarmament exercise to be conducted by the Government of Southern Sudan. The exercise should start now, at the beginning of the dry season, before Murle communities migrate north with weapons to threaten disarmed Lou Nuer tribes in Akobo.
The Ugandan army accused the rebel LRA of killing thirteen people in two ambushes in southern Sudan, an Ugandan official said on Wednesday.
The ambushes constituted a serious violation of a cessation of hostilities agreement reached in August 2005, to facilitate peace talks aimed at ending two decades of the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda, the official added.
(ST)