Sudan is backing Joseph Kony’s LRA, says Uganda
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April 30, 2012 (LONDON) - The Sudanese government is providing support
to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) an insurgency that originated in
northern Uganda but now operates in South Sudan, Central African
Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the
Ugandan military.
JPEG - 22.4 kb
An armed fighter of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) stands guard in
2006 in Ri-Kwamba, southern Sudan. (file/AFP)
Sudan has denied the allegation, which is the latest in a string of
statements from South Sudan’s neighbour against the Sudanese
government in Khartoum.
Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni, a frequent critic of Khartoum,
told an event in Ethiopia April 16 that Sudan’s attitude to ethnicity,
culture and religion was the prime example of how not to manage
diversity in Africa.
On April 20, South Sudan welcomed the announcement made by the chief
of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), Aronda Nyakairima, that
Uganda would intervene if the current border conflict between Juba and
Khartoum escalates into a full-scale war.
Khartoum responded on April 21 by accusing Kampala of issuing
passports to senior officials from the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement-North (SPLM-N), an armed group who have been fighting the
government in the Sudanese states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile
since last year. Kampala denied the allegation.
During the two-decade Sudanese civil war, which ended in 2005 with a
peace deal granting South Sudan the right to seceded last year, Uganda
sided with the SPLM rebels who now form the government in Juba.
In response, Khartoum is widely accused of backing the LRA, which
began operating in South Sudan and elsewhere in Central Africa having
been forced out of northern Uganda by the UPDF.
The LRA was founded by Joseph Kony in his Acholi community amid
repression from the UPDF. Its stated aim is to overthrow the
government in Kampala and install the Bible’s Ten Commandments.
Across Uganda, CAR, DRC and South Sudan the LRA is accused of massive
human rights abuses including rape, mutilation, murder and the
recruitment of child soldiers.
However, the group is believed to only have a few hundred soldier’s
left due to desertions and combined regional attempts - recently
backed by United States army advisors and African Union troops - to
end the conflict militarily.
Uganda’s accusations come as tensions between Sudan and South Sudan
remain extremely high, with the conflict along their disputed oil-rich
border passing the one month mark.
Sudan’s president has said that the SPLM government must be
overthrown, describing them as "insects" that must be crushed.
Such rhetoric may simply be playing to his right-wing support-base but
are symptomatic of the depths to which relations have fallen less than
10 months after South Sudan’s independence.
Juba already accuses the Sudan Armed Forces of supporting and fighting
alongside Southern "mercenaries" along the border and supporting
rebellions in Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei states. Khartoum denies
this and maintains that the SPLM in Juba has not severed its ties with
the SPLM-N north of the border.
During the six year period of Comprehensive Peace Agreement between
the SPLM and Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP), allegations
of Khartoum’s backing of the LRA decreased out but have reemerged now
hostilities have resumed.
Ugandan army spokesman Col Felix Kulayigye told the BBC Monday that
its intelligence indicated that the LRA was now moving into Sudan’s
Darfur region from the Central African Republic (CAR), including areas
controlled by pro-government militia the Janjaweed.
"Kony knows we can’t enter that region, so when the pressure is high
in Central Africa he crosses into the Sudanese border [areas],"
Kulayigye said.
The Ugandan army colonel told the BBC that the UPDF had captured a LRA
soldier wearing a uniform from the Sudan Armed Forces. He also alleged
that his weapons and ammunition were the same as those carried by SAF
personnel.
Sudan’s ambassador to the UK, Abdullahi al-Azreg, told the BBC that
Uganda’s accusations were a "big lie".
"We are not helping and we will not help [Joseph Kony]. He’s a
criminal," he said.
The LRA has split into small groups that rarely use electronic
communications and operate across a huge area of Central Africa, often
in dense bush and forests that make them hard to track.
To survive the LRA raids villages for supplies and abduct young men to
become fighters and young girls to become sex slaves.
The African Union announced in March that it was setting up a
5,000-strong force to hunt Kony and what remains of his group. The
regional armies pursuing the elusive rebel leader are also being
assisted by 100 US special forces working from four bases across
Central Africa.
Since peace talks held in Juba broke down in 2008 - due to LRA fears
that Kony and the group’s leadership could not be granted immunity
from prosecution by the International Criminal Court - the
international community has opted to adopt a military rather than
negotiated resolution for the two-decade long conflict that has
displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Some analysts interpret the Juba peace talks as just a means to buy
time on the part of the LRA to regroup and that Kony was never serious
about signing a deal.
(ST)
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