Sudan warns Security Council against mixing LRA issue with Darfur peacekeepers
July 24, 2012 (WASHINGTON) — Sudan strongly warned the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) against including the issue of Ugandan Lord Resistance Army in a resolution under preparation to renew the mandate of the African Union – United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). An LRA rebel keep vigil at Ri-kwangba near Garamba forest April 10, 2008. (Getty) Sudan’s U.N. ambassador, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman was speaking to the UNSC after a briefing from the UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari as the Council is expected to adopt a new resolution renewing the mission’s mandate for another year. As the UNAMID mandate is due to expire on 31 July, a draft resolution on the issue is circulating and members of the UN security Council can propose to add or to discard some of the considerations of the resolution renewing the hybrid operation. After reiterating Sudan’s commitment to implement the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, Daffa-Alla blamed the draft resolution for not taking into account the different positive aspects achieved in the region since the signing of the agreement and mentioned by the UN Secretary General in his report. He also wondered about the silence of the UNSC draft resolution on rebels refusal to join peace and their statements to the chief mediator ad interim that they want topple the government as they are all together fight Khartoum with another rebel group, SPLM-N, in South Kordofan . Gambari met with Darfur rebels in April and May of this year. The Sudanese diplomat went further to reject the inclusion of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the draft resolution and strongly warned against such development saying it would hamper Sudan’s cooperation with the UNAMID. He underlined that the UNAMID mandate is limited only to protect civilians and bring peace in Darfur while the LRA is undertaking a rebellion in Uganda which has no common border with Sudan, he underscored. "Including this issue is going to be an impediment and cause of refusal, which may affect our cooperation with UNAMID and its actions in Darfur. If we truly wish to establish peace, stability and security then let us discard this issue far away from Darfur and UNAMID," he further said. In 2010 Washington based Enough Project and the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said LRA rebel leader, Joseph Kony, was in Darfur after being in South Sudan and neighbouring Central African Republic. Sudanese army, during its war against the South Sudanese rebels who were backed by the Ugandan government, supported the LRA rebels in their conflict with Kampala and used them to fight a proxy war against the SPLA rebels. After the signing of 2005 peace agreement, the Sudanese government deny harbouring the Ugandan rebel leader who is wanted by the International Criminal Court. 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. The Sudanese ambassador to the UN, told the Council that there are no credible grounds to mix between the LRA and the hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur. "Those who support that position will be responsible for the consequences stemming there from," he stressed without elaborating about countries which proposed to add this issue in the considerations of the upcoming resolution. However, he said that the Government of Sudan vigorously condemns LRA and expressed Khartoum’s readiness to cooperate with all the members of the international community in order to put an end to the action of the rebel group. Sudan currently accuses the Ugandan government of harbouring Darfur rebel groups and supporting them. With military and logistical means. Delegations from the two governments held a series of meetings in Kampala and Khartoum in 2011. Following a meeting on 15 August, the two country agreed that the Darfur groups and the LRA are "negative elements threatening security and stability in the whole region." Nonetheless, the two capital did not achieve any progress on this regard. Kampala and Khartoum reportedly failed to agree on how to end the presence of the rebel groups in both countries. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
