Sudan denies Ugandan rebel leader relocated to Darfur
March 15, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese army denied statements made by the Ugandan President in which he claimed that the Lord Resistance Army’s leader Joseph Kony has moved to the western region Darfur and also suggested that he is being supported by the central government in Khartoum.
“And even if he had wanted to go, know that Darfur is not a favorable environment for the LRA,” he said. LRA rebels “are used to fighting in the forests,” while Darfur is semi-desert.
In separate statements to the independent Al-Ayaam newspaper Sa’ad said that Kony relies on the tribes that support him.
Last week, Musevini said that Ugandan army intel indicates that Kony fled to Darfur after his fighters fled from the Central African republic.
The Ugandan leader further said that he is not concerned if the intel turns out to be true because it means that the LRA figures have settled in Darfur far away from his country and sparing it the havoc they are known to create.
The fugitive LRA leader has been on the run since December 2008 when regional states launched a hunt to nab him after he refused to sign a peace deal with Kampala.
Since the operation, remnant LRA fighters have been moving in the jungles of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, south Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).
Kony and two of his lieutenants have been charged with atrocities in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, which under international law requires they be turned over immediately upon capture or surrender. Past attempts to ink a peace deal between LRA and Kampala has failed primarily because the rebels wanted to persuade the Hague based court to drop the case.
He also did not rule out the possibility that LRA are receiving support from Khartoum as the case was in the past during the civil war years between North and South Sudan.
“If the Sudanese want to accommodate him in Darfur, that makes no difference to us” Musevini said.
“It makes no difference because they supported him much more in the past but whatever they gave him, we captured,” he added.
Last week the Washington-based Enough Project said today that a contingent of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has taken refuge in areas of South Darfur controlled by the Government of Sudan.
Accordingly, an LRA reconnaissance team in late 2009 sought to make contact with the Sudanese army at their base in Kafia Kingi, near south Darfur’s border with CAR, according to Enough Project. Now, based on field research and interviews with government and United Nations officials in several countries, Enough says that it can “confirm that LRA units have reached south Darfur.”
A similar claim was voiced by the official spokesman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, who asserted last year that LRA leader Joseph Kony himself was in Darfur. This was denied by Salah Gosh, presidential advisor and ex-chief of the intelligence and security service.
The Sudanese embassy in Washington released a statement calling the report by ENOUGH “outrageous” and “malicious”.
“The intention of these malicious speculations isn’t in the least bit difficult to discern. It’s a desperate and feeble attempt at yet again maligning the Sudanese Government and undermining the progress made towards peace. It is indeed convenient and most opportune for the enemies of peace in Sudan to peddle such alarming news, for it is clear they’ve lost the battle of Darfur as peace is at last dawning in that region, and now are in frantic search for a novel pretext that allows them to perpetuate their military-interventionist campaign in Sudan,”.
According to the U.N. refugees agency, the LRA caused most of the displacement in central Africa in 2009 with hundreds of thousands uprooted.
The rebels have looted, killed civilians and abducted children from three countries, forcing many to flee their homes, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
(ST)
Wal P Muoranyar Biet
Sudan denies Ugandan rebel leader relocated to Darfur
Joseph Kony, you are lucky Garang died, your movements would have been talk of as ancient story now!
David_N
Sudan denies Ugandan rebel leader relocated to Darfur
That’s funny!,
Never thought of these Monkeys sent from Central Government of Khartoum, and what it should reply to Khartoum for this shit?
Send the whole Monkeys back to Khartoum?
telfajbago
Sudan denies Ugandan rebel leader relocated to Darfur
Fugitive President provides safe heaven to fugitive leaders; Kony is there in Darfur terrorising and raising havoc among local civilians and if Al-Sawarmi is denying this fact then he is either hypocrite or not in touch with the realities. I have stated some days back in my comments that, Khartoum regimme will continue being existential threat to the regional peace and stability and now the fact of being den to different Internationally -wanted individuals and opposition groups is proving my claims.
babadit
Sudan denies Ugandan rebel leader relocated to Darfur
This article is not far from the truth, the fact is that Kony himself have been in Khartoum and have building like Osama Bin Laden, and mind you those who are aggueing that he and his men are not in Darfur are the people who have been giving Supports right from the begining of his war.
Kony is in Khartoum right now , let not Bashir and his war mongers confuse the world that they don’t supports him militaryly.
indeed, ICC should have added another count of crimes agains Al Bashir for having supplying Joseph Kony with wepeons to kills people of northern uganda and southern sudan.
Time1
Sudan denies Ugandan rebel leader relocated to Darfur
LRA group lead by Joseph Kony has entered Darfur last month, this new report is known is all circles, Kony was about to be attacked, forces were closing in on him when he slipped into Darfur region just some weeks ago, there is credible evidence Kony is in Darfur, Government of Sudans SAF is trying to use LRA for two purposes, one; to attack Darfur rebels and internally displace peoples in Darfur, second; to try an d use LRA to distrupt elections or referendum, so everybody sees that the NCP government will never reform, people have been patient with them for too long, however lets all wait and see were this will go or end, LRA will soon start senseless killing people inside north Sudan and only the SAF will take blame for that. There are three groups of LRA, the main group under Kony still recieves support from the Sudan government even though it also has conenctions with other external force, there is another LRA group which operates around Congo and Central Africa, that group works with European NGOs and mercenaries, so omer bashir should stop pretending to be clean going around south sudan talking about reconciliations and elections meanwhile his heart is not up to what he is saying. who else will trust north sudanese if they are not sincere and are now known worldwide as the most dishonest and criminal minded people? who will shake that ugly image off from this northern Arab wannabes?