The operations of South Sudan rebels in Uganda

By Steve Paterno

February 11, 2015 – The news of expulsion of South Sudan rebels who are operating in Uganda does not occur out of a vacuum. The South Sudanese rebels are not just posing threats to Uganda national interest, but rather, they are direct enemies of Uganda government, battling against each other in South Sudan.

The rumour of the presence of these rebels in Uganda soil would suggest that President Yuweri Museveni had pull a tricky diplomatic coup of an imaginable proportion by allowing these rebel outfits to carry out their treacherous activities under his own nose. Such duplicity will be like South Sudan deciding to host the Uganda rebels, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), just as exactly in that case when Riek Machar tried to do so under the disguise of the infamous Juba Peace Talks by sheltering, feeding and providing for the LRA combatants.

The fact of the matter though is that the Uganda government has never officially approved the operations of these rebels inside its territory, leave alone even any acknowledgement of their existence in Uganda. Those rebel agents who may be operating in Uganda are there as mere individuals. If they are involved in rebellious activities, they are doing it undercover and of course, they are doing so at their own perils.

Therefore, the news of the discovery of these underground cells in Uganda; whether that will lead into their expulsions, detentions, or executions, should not come as a total surprise. After all, on a numerous occasions, the rebels have been rebuffed, humiliated, and distrusted.

The group attempt in trying to gain official recognition by Uganda government has long been turned down and rejected outright. The group suffered huge public embarrassment when their delegation to Kampala was left stranded at the airport, whereby, they have no choice but to jet back to their sanctuary in Addis Ababa. To further complicate the matter against their cause, the rebels’ intransigence throughout the peace negotiations, lead to deeply rooted mistrust and disapproval of their goals. It is actually reported that in the last concluded round of the peace talks, held in Addis Ababa, Uganda President Museveni abruptly stormed out of the talks, reaffirming that the rebel leader Riek Machar is an untrustworthy fellow who is not reliable for any leadership position in South Sudan.

So, the propaganda by the rebels all along that they are maintaining a good working relationship with Uganda government and their claim that they are even officially running an office in Kampala is a whitewash, aimed at bolstering their otherwise shaky diplomatic position. As the rebels are prolonging the war, they are slowly begin to realize how much ground they are losing on diplomatic front. Their one time foreign allies whom they were counting on are eventually growing distance from them or even harshly condemning their conducts. The rebels’ destructive nature and lack of vision are finally discovered. They are left to fend for themselves. All that there is left for them is to propagate a non-existence relationship with foreign entities out of a thin air; just to stay afloat until they are offered positions in government they decided to wage war against.

Steve Paterno is the author of The Rev. Fr. Saturnino Lohure, A Romain Catholic Priest Turned Rebel. He can be reached at [email protected]