Ugandan diplomat goes missing in South Sudan
Jan 28, 2007 (KAMPALA) — A Ugandan diplomat in the Juba Consulate in southern Sudan is missing. Mr Joseph Lutuk, an administrative attache, disappeared late last year, under circumstances that government officials here cannot explain.
According to security sources, Lutuk is a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) lieutenant who had been seconded to the consulate by the External Security Organization under diplomatic cover. He is among the long serving staff at the consulate.
When contacted on phone last week, ESO Director-General Iga Makku claimed he did no know Lutuk. “I have no information. I don’t know him.”
But Uganda’s consul-general in Juba, Ambassador Busho Ndinyenka said: “If he abandoned his post then people who brought him here will give me a substitute.” Mr Busho denied suggestions that Lutuk might have vanished due to work-related problems.
Sources in Juba said that Lutuk abandoned his household property with Sudanese friends claiming he had been called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala. Lutuk, who belongs to the Karimojong ethnic group, is reportedly fluent in local Sudanese languages and Arabic.
But due to poor communication between the Foreign Ministry and the Consulate in Juba, Lutuk’s disappearance was discovered in November last year.
According to security sources, Lutuk is believed to have sneaked to the United States using different names because Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give him a covering letter to travel outside the country, as is usually the case with holders of red passports.
The Juba consulate is part of Uganda’s diplomatic mission with headquarters in Khartoum. But because of South Sudan’s strategic interests to Uganda and the size of the greater Sudan, the Juba consulate was created to ease interaction between Uganda and the leadership in South Sudan.
The consulate has been instrumental in peace negotiations between the Uganda government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army. Apart from Ambassador Busho, Lt Lutuk was a key person in the peace negotiations because of his military background.
(Daily Monitor)