Ugandan rebel group kills Sudanese civilians

KAMPALA, Mar 15, 2005 (Xinhua) — Uganda’s rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), has killed several Sudanese nationals who were traveling in a motor convoy near Juba town in southern Sudan.

Uganda’s military spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza confirmed the incident and he told Xinhua by telephone on Tuesday that the LRA rebels have been greatly weakened by the government troops who are stationed in southern Sudan to fight them.

Press reports reaching here indicated that four people were killed and at least three others were injured in the ambush that occurred on Friday.

The LRA rebels who were previously armed by the Khartoum government to fight Uganda in retaliation for Uganda’s support to the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), have carried out brutal attacks on civilians both in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

The LRA, one of Africa’s most brutal rebel group, has forced over 1.6 million people displaced from their homes in northern Uganda for fear of being abducted, mutilated and forced to serve as fighters and sex slaves.

Since 2002, the Khartoum government has allowed Ugandan troops to conduct operations against the LRA rebels based in southern Sudan,.

Major Bantariza noted that the signing of the peace deal between the SPLA and the Khartoum government that brought the end of the 20 year civil conflict in southern Sudan has greatly weakened the LRA.

He noted that the Sudanese people have started going back to the villages which has made the LRA to be constantly on the run.