What peace jokes! We knew all along that dictator Museveni was not committed to the talks.
y
>From: Matek Opoko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: ugandanet@kym.net
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], ugandanet@kym.net
>Subject: [Ugnet] War resumes
>Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2005 20:56:46 -0800 (PST)
>
>War resumes
>By Frank Nyakairu
>Jan 2, 2005
>
>Kony ambushes army as talks collapse
>
>GULU —Things seem to be falling apart in northern Uganda once again, with the rebels injuring four UPDF soldiers in a morning ambush in Gulu yesterday.
>
>One soldier is missing in action.
>
>The rebels ambushed and burnt up a UPDF pick-up truck on its way from Gulu to Alero. The truck, which was hit using a rocket-propelled grenade at 9:30 a.m., was loaded with meat for soldiers in Alero to feast on as part of their New Year's Day celebrations.
>
>"This shows their New Year resolution," Lt. Paddy Ankunda, the army's spokesman in northern Uganda, said of the Lord's Resistance Army rebels.
>Alero is 16km outside Gulu town.
>
>The ambush came as the government announced a resumption of its campaign against the rebels following the failure to sign a ceasefire agreement on Friday.
>
>"We have begun operations today [Saturday] at 7 a.m.," defence and military spokesman Shaban Bantariza told Sunday Monitor earlier yesterday before news of the ambush broke.
>
>The government and the LRA rebels failed to sign a ceasefire deal on Friday, the day when the government's latest period of unilateral cessation of hostilities was slated to expire. The rebels said they were still consulting amongst themselves, although Maj. Bantariza said the failure was because of "disagreements among [the rebels.]"
>
>Had the ceasefire agreement been signed, it would have been a landmark step toward ending the brutal 18-year rebellion in north-central Uganda.
>President Museveni had warned in his New Year national address that failure to sign the deal by the rebels would lead to a resumption of the UPDF campaign within hours.
>
>It now happens that Kony took to the President;s message seriously and swung into action before the UPDF.
>
>"If Kony's group do not irreversibly commit themselves to coming out of the bush by the 31st of December 2004, then UPDF will start full-scale operations, beginning 0700 hours, the 1st of January 2005," the President said in his written address.
>
>The cessation of hostilities deal had been reached during meetings between the government team led by Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and the LRA team led by rebel publicist Sam Kolo on Wednesday in Paloda, Palabek ceasefire zone in Kitgum district.
>
>The government says the talks can continue but from "abroad not in Uganda not in southern Sudan".
>
>A source close to the peace process said yesterday that "the spirit of negotiations is still high", though Dr Rugunda was returning to Kampala from Kitgum, where he had been since Tuesday.
>
>
>
>© 2005 The Monitor Publications.
>
>
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