‘Uganda rebels in DR Congo’
By Sylvester Onyang
Congolese from Ituri Province yesterday claimed that Ugandan rebels are regrouping to fight the Uganda government.
Chief Kawa Panga Mandro, president of a newly formed Front Pour l’Integration et la Paix (FIPI), told a news conference at Speke Hotel that a group he suspected is backed by former presidential candidate Col. Kizza Besigye is active at Garamba National Park.
He said the troops are training under the command of two army officers whose names he did not disclose.
He said one of them is a major and the other a captain.
“Lubanga was misleading the government of Uganda over the rebel activity in Congo. I know of many youth who have been recruited into the militia force under Besigye to fight Uganda,” said Mr. Kawa.
The rebel leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) Thomas Lubanga on Tuesday said rebels fighting to challenge the Kampala government were not camped in Ituri.
Kawa said FIPI has been fighting a number of rebel groups intending to set up bases in Ituri province to wage war against Uganda.
He said the UPDF have been instrumental in safeguarding the security of people and property in Congo and should continue with its mission to guard her frontier.
“We want the UPDF to continue their stay in Congo because we are afraid of a genocide without Ugandan troops at the border,” the French speaking Mr. Kawa said through a translator.
He said the FIPI has been formed with two other formerly warring factions headed by Mr. Floribert Njabu Ngabu and Mr. Thomas Onencan.
He said FIPI would implement its mission of disarming the UPC that has lost popularity in Ituri and opened a new wave of deaths in the region.
Mr. Kawa said the UPDF would only pull out with MONUC after the Ituri Pacification Commission has accomplished its tasks to resolve the crisis in the province.
February 12, 2003 12:35:30
