Ugandan rebels will interfere with 2009 elections in WES – official

October 29, 2008 (YAMBIO) – The presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) troops in southern Sudan could hamper the presidential election in Western Equatoria State (WES), a local official said today.

The LRA is an armed group that fought the government of Uganda since 1987. The Acholi people of Uganda have borne the brunt of the 21 years of LRA’s campaign, but in recent years LRA forces have drifted into the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since about mid-September, the group has attacked several villages in Haut-Uele province of northeastern Congo, as well as Sakure in southern Sudan.

The commissioner of Yambio County in the Government of Western Equatoria State, David Bill Apanto, at his office cautioned that the “2009 Presidential Election will not be successfully in WES because of the continuous presence and atrocities of the LRA in the State.”

However, Apanto urged that “GOSS (Government of Southern Sudan) should intervene and save the population of WES before things go out of hand prior to election date.”

“WES has witnessed and endured the LRA’s barbaric and vicious atrocities since 2006 and during the exercise of the population census, most of the areas were not covered because of the dangerous external rebels of neighbouring Uganda,” said Apanto.

He stressed that, “the coming election will not be successful until the notorious LRA is flushed out of the territory of the WES.”

He accused LRA of practicing cannibalism and causing crimes against humanity in Western Equatoria State.

The commissioner also gave a strong message to the citizens that let them work hand in hand with the government to curb the insecurity situation which is engulfing the state from both the LRA and Ambororo, because without security the election will not succeed.

The Ambororo are a pastoral population that move their cattle through WES and are now the target of a campaign to drive them out. WES Governor Jemma Nunu Kumba said at a mid-October meeting that the presence of Ambororo has degraded forests and the eco-systems of WES, causing mounting tension with the local population. Kumba referred to the Ambororo as “enemies of peace.”

“Let the citizen vote wisely to the party which will lead them to the referendum and if voted wrongly the problem of Sudan will continue and it will not end,” warned Apanto.

Apando believes that, “should elections were held today in WES; SPLM Party will win the state in a landslide victory.”

Apanto was appointed as County Commissioner early September 2008; he is the commissioner of Yambio county, which hosts the Western Equatoria State Government. He worked before in the SPLM state secretariat as deputy secretary of political mobilization, and in the last SPLM state congress he was elected unopposed.

(ST)