LRA rebels ambush Ugandan truck in South Sudan – officer
Jan 21, 2007 (KAMPALA) — According to the Ugandan army the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ambushed and set ablaze a Fuso lorry on Friday night, the attack took place between Amer junction and , Magwi in South Sudan.
This brings to 23 the number of trucks ambushed and burnt since the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement last August, said the Ugandan army spokesperson for northern Uganda, Lt. Chris Magezi.
The truck was carrying fruits, potatoes and fresh food for the Ugandan business community in South Sudan.
Magezi said some passengers were still missing, while four managed to reach a Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) detachment some 10km away.
“This is another serious violation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. We hope that the monitoring team will expose these armed men,” he said.
Four former LRA fighters, who recently defected to the UPDF, told the listeners of Radio Mega FM in Gulu last week that LRA leaders Kony and Otti ordered the ambushes.
Over the weekend, northern leaders warned the LRA leadership against people whom they described as “conflict entrepreneurs.”
The LRA has rejected Juba as the venue for the talks and wants Dr. Riak Machar replaced as chief mediator.
“Some individual entrepreneurs and organisations are deceiving the LRA commanders and the negotiating team to change the venue of the talks, claiming that Machar is paying them peanuts and that they would give them huge per-diem,” Gulu RDC Walter Ochora told the LRA leaders during a tele-conference at the weekend.
Gulu district chairman Norbert Mao blamed “some businessmen and organisations” for influencing the LRA commanders.
Otti said they had a new mediator to replace Machar, who will soon be named, while Kony assured: “Peace talks should continue. We support it in principal. We are not even stuck to Nairobi as a venue. We can take it to any other country.”
(New Vision)