Ugandan troops have not ended the rebellion
Sudan has withdrawn its permission for
Ugandan soldiers to use its territory to track
down Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said the
agreement had not been renewed because
Uganda had not given a time limit for their
presence or specified where they would be
operating.
The Ugandan army started
"Operation Iron Fist" in
March, after being
authorised to enter Sudan to
hunt LRA fighters.
Previously, Sudan had
backed the LRA, while
Ugandan had supported
Sudan's SPLA rebels.
The BBC's Alfred Taban in Khartoum says that
Ugandan soldiers are now illegally on Sudanese
territory.
But Mr Ismail said that the decision would not
hurt relations with Uganda because Sudan
would not renew its backing for the rebels.
"We have reached a firm decision that we will
not co-operate with the LRA," he told
parliament.
But analysts say the decision will not go down
well in Kampala.
Intensified
Meanwhile, the army has said that it has killed
28 LRA fighters and lost four soldiers during
clashes in northern Uganda on Monday night,
according to the French news agency, AFP.
The LRA have been fighting the government of
President Yoweri Museveni for 14 years,
demanding that Uganda be ruled according to
the Biblical Ten Commandments.
But they have
kidnapped thousands
of children for use as
fighters or sex slaves.
Operation Iron Fist has
not been an
unqualified success,
despite repeated army
claims to be on the
verge of wiping out
the rebels.
The LRA has fled its
bases in Sudan and
entered northern Uganda, where they have
intensified their attacks.
Last month, the Ugandan army ordered
100,000 civilians in the north to leave their
homes and move closer to camps protected by
the military.
Army spokesman Shaban Bantariza told the
BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the
move was being made to prevent civilians
getting caught in the crossfire as the army
tracks the rebels down.
\"Always be a first rate version of yourself instead of a second rate version of
someone else.\"
Njoki Paul
University of Pretoria
