Uganda has another three months to fight LRA rebels in southern Sudan

KAMPALA, March 5 (AFP) — Uganda said Friday that neighbouring Sudan had extended by three months an agreement under which Ugandan troops are allowed to carry out search-and-destroy raids against rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in southern Sudan.

The announcement came despite Uganda having recently renewed a longstanding accusation that the Khartoum government was supporting and harbouring LRA fighters.

Suspected LRA insurgents are accused of killing more than 200 civilians in a camp for displaced people in northern Uganda on February 21.

“The president of Sudan was happy with the consolidation of the existing cooperation in defence and he reiterated his government’s commitment to rid Sudan of (LRA leader Joseph) Kony and his band of terrorists whom he declared enemies of Sudan,” army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told AFP.

Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi led a group of military officials to Khartoum this week to negotiate the renewal of the protocol.

“The minister delivered a message from President Yoweri Museveni to (Sudan’s President) General (Omar) al-Beshir, but the delegation also discussed the military protocol the two countries have and they agreed to extend it by another three months starting March 1,” said Bantariza.

The protocol allowing Ugandan troops to persue to LRA rebels into southern Sudan was signed in March, 2002.

The LRA has waged a vicious war in northern Uganda since 1988, killing and maiming civilians and abducting tens of thousands of children who are forced into combat or sexual slavery.