No Apology - Sudan
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The Monitor (Kampala)
May 14, 2004
Posted to the web May 14, 2004
Elias Biryabarema
Kampala
A Sudanese envoy has said his government should not be held responsible for the
suffering of the people in northern Uganda. Mr Mohammed Eisa Ismail Dahab, Sudan's
deputy head of mission in Uganda and charge' d'affaires, had made a courtesy call to
The Monitor offices in Namuwongo yesterday.
He said Sudan had no apology to make since it took no responsibility for the
perpetuation of the LRA war in which an estimated a million people have been displaced
and thousands killed.
"A country or someone can apologise only if he has done something wrong. We've done
nothing as far as (the) LRA war is concerned and we have nothing to apologise about,"
Eisa said.
Answering a question from The Monitor managing director, Mr Conrad Nkutu, on why the
LRA has been able to enjoy Sudanese support for 18 years, Dahab said: "Sudan has never
supported LRA at any single time. It's true they have been living in southern Sudan,
which has been in civil war and where we couldn't easily restrain them."
President Yoweri Museveni has consistently blamed the unending war on Sudan, which he
accuses of providing support to LRA by giving them a safe haven and sourcing weapons.
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Dahab said the LRA rebellion should be blamed on the inequalities between the north
and the rest of the country.
"LRA is an internal problem and you must blame yourselves," he said. He added that the
UPDF, which has failed to neutralise the LRA fighters in northern Uganda, should bear
all the blame.
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