Ugandan army says will not “extend any support” to Sudanese militia group
By Emmy Allio, the New Vision
KAMPALA, April 23, 2004 — The UPDF yesterday said it could not extend any material assistance to a Sudanese militia group in southern Sudan which has vowed to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels of Joseph Kony.
The UPDF spokesman, Maj. Shaban Bantariza, said in view of the protocol between Uganda and Sudan, Uganda could not extend any support to the group.
“This is because the protocol forbids any support to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army who are now allied to EDF,” Bantariza said.
The Equatoria Defence Forces (EDF) , on the weekend vowed to wage all-out war against Kony rebels in retaliation for LRA attacks against civilians inside Sudan.
The EDF, which was formerly allied to the LRA and the Sudanese government, promised to “take the war against LRA rebels in southern Sudan to all their hideouts.”
“We shall smoke LRA rebels from their holes and they will be killed like rats when they run out,” said the statement signed by EDF secretary general Charles Kisanga.
“EDF is appealing to the Ugandan government to help us get rid of this brutal terrorist guerrilla force. It has been years since UPDF started pursuing LRA in southern Sudan, but Ugandans can rest assured that EDF has the capacity to do this job in a much shorter time and at lower costs if we are afforded the facilities we need to get the job done,” he said.
Bantariza said, “Since EDF has joined SPLA and our protocol with Sudan bars any form of support to SPLA, we, therefore, cannot give any material support to EDF. We welcome their intention to collaborate with us.”
The army has sent hundreds of troops to southern Sudan in pursuit of the Joseph Kony, the leader of LRA.
Recent reports said the rebels fled their longtime sanctuary on Imotong Mountains and Katire plains.
The army is now pursuing them in Kit II valley, northwest of Imotong Mountains.
The EDF statement followed an interview allegedly conducted with Kony by a Sudanese magazine in which he threatened the EDF and SPLM/A and promised to burn villages in southern Sudan.
“I want to tell the Sudanese lords to keep away from us because if they attack us as they have done this month [March], we will fight and set their villages on fire,” Kony was quoted as saying by the magazine, which is published in Nairobi.
In June 2002, the Uganda Government launched Operation Iron Fist, a military effort to rout out the rebels, following an agreement with Khartoum that permitted the Ugandan army to enter southern Sudan.
The agreement strictly forbade the UPDF from fighting against Kony alongside Sudanese rebel groups.