South Sudan denies 11 Ugandan rebel surrendered

October 21 (JUBA, Sudan) — South Sudan denied reports from some of their own officers and the Ugandan army on Sunday that 11 of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have surrendered to South Sudanese authorities.

The Ugandan army and a south Sudanese officer who demanded anonymity had said on Saturday the rebels had surrendered in western Sudan after fleeing a shootout between the LRA’s top two commanders in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“No LRA officer has handed himself in to the SPLA, and we do not know of any fighting in Garamba Park (in eastern DRC),” South Sudanese army spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol told Reuters.

The rebels could not be reached for comment.

The LRA, whose brutal 20-year war in northern Uganda killed tens of thousands of people and forced 2 million to flee their homes, signed a ceasefire with Uganda last year at peace talks under south Sudanese mediation in south Sudan’s capital Juba.

But LRA leader Joseph Kony and other top commanders have refused to leave eastern DRC and participate directly in talks, fearing arrest warrants for them in the International Criminal Court. They have instead appointed representatives.

The Ugandan army says it is concerned Kony may have fallen out with his deputy, Vincent Otti, sparking clashes that put the future of talks in jeopardy.

Kuol said the U.N. Special Envoy for Uganda’s conflict, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, was due to arrive in south Sudan on Monday for a trip to the Sudan/Congo border to meet the LRA leadership.

(Reuters)