Sudan peace agreement, a blow to Ugandan LRA rebels
KAMPALA, June 09, 2004 (Xinhua) — The recently signed peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the main rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army/movement (SPLA/M) is a major deadlock to those rebels fighting in Uganda.
During his meeting with Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni here on Tuesday, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir reiterated his government’s commitment to supporting Uganda to fight the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
“The recent peace agreement that my government signed with the SPLA/M is going to be the last nail in the LRA coffin,” President Bashir said, adding that it is not only going to be the end of the LRA but also of its leader Joseph Kony.
This commitment will probably terminate the mutual accusations between the two countries on who arms each other’s rebels.
President Museveni who has for a long time accused the Sudan of arming the LRA, at this time said he is satisfied with the cooperation of the Sudanese government in the fight against the LRA terrorists of Kony.
The Sudanese government had been arming and training the LRA rebels in revenge of reports that the Ugandan government was giving a safe haven to the SPLA/M.
The LRA is regarded as one of the most cruel rebel groups in Africa. In the past 18 years, it has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced over 1.5 million others.
They commit gruesome crimes such as smashing heads of their captives with axes and burning others alive.
However, the support from the Sudan was a major factor that boosted the operations of the rebels in northern Uganda.
A former LRA rebel who recently surrendered to the Ugandan army, Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF), said that he decided to abandon the rebellion after the Sudanese government started to sign deals with the SPLA/M.
On various occasions, the Sudanese government has continued to renew its protocol with Uganda which allows the UPDF to fight the LRA in southern Sudan since February 2002.
This has greatly dogged the operations of the LRA. Most of their training grounds in southern Sudan were destroyed by the UPDF.
Statistics from the Ugandan Defense Ministry indicate that between January 2003 and mid-January this year, the UPDF rescued 7,387 abductees and also killed 986 rebels in action.
The Sudan peace process has been a major booster to other factors that have scaled down the rebellion.
The UPDF has now got more military might than the rebels. The use of helicopter gunship by the government forces has greatly weakened the rebels.
This intensive pressure has led to the death of many commanders of the LRA.
Politicians unlike before have also rallied behind the government to mobilize the people to resist supporting the rebellion. Many militia groups have also been formed to join the government forces in pursuing the rebels.
Most of the rebels have lost the morale of fighting. According to one of the former rebels in an interview with the state owned newspaper, the New Vision, what kept them together was a belief intheir commanders’ spiritualism but after realizing that it was propaganda, they gave up and surrendered.