Congolese Flee Into West Nile
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The Monitor (Kampala)
January 5, 2003
Posted to the web January 6, 2003
Badru D. Mulumba
Kampala
Congolese rebels fleeing into the West Nile region may cause insecurity,
local officials have said.
The Congolese comprise mostly the Lendu ethnic group, Arua Resident District
Commissioner Okoth-Nyalulu said on phone Friday.
"Because of what is happening in Congo, people tend to move in and out of
[West Nile] with arms. There are factions in Congo. They are armed. The
defeated factions are running here," Nyalulu said.
The RDC, however, added that Arua is now relatively calm after the
"deployment" by the UPDF. This, he said, has made Nebbi the current crossing
and settlement point for the Congolese.
But he would not give estimates of the number of Congolese getting into the
country through West Nile.
Contacted for comment, UPDF spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza said Friday that
no fresh troops have been sent to West Nile. However, he said that the army
has enough troops in West Nile.
"It is not true that we have sent more troops into West Nile," he said.
"There is a full force in that region. In fact, it is a full brigade."
A brigade is estimated at about 3,000 troops.
The reports of fleeing Congolese first came up two weeks ago when members of
Parliament toured the West Nile region prior to the signing of the peace
agreement between government and the Uganda National Rescue Front rebels led
by Ali Bamuze.
Yesterday, various news agencies quoted aid groups saying that in the past
four days, heavy artillery fire has forced 35,000 people from the town of
Makeke toward Beni in eastern Congo.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement is reportedly fighting
with the Congolese Liberation Movement and its ally Congolese Rally for
Democracy-National, for the control of resource-rich areas of Ituri and North
Kivu provinces.
