Kampala, Uganda,06/26 - Kampala has agreed to open transit routes to enable the deployment of over 10,000 United Nations peacekeepers in the Uganda army operational zone in southern Sudan, defence minister Amama Mbabazi announced here Friday.
The agreement follows a meeting between UN secretary-general Kofi Annan`s special representative in Sudan, Jan Pronk, and officials of Uganda`s defence and foreign ministries in Kampala over the contentious issue.
"Pronk came with a delegation to discuss deployment of UN peacekeepers in areas that our troops are occupying since being allowed by our Khartoum (Sudan) counterpart to operate there in pursuit of rebels fighting us," Mbabazi said.
Kampala and Khartoum signed a protocol three-years ago allowing the Ugandan army to extend its offensive code named `Operation Iron Fist` against rebels of the Lord`s Resistance Army (LRA) in the rebel`s southern Sudan rear bases.
"The
UN
requested Uganda to avail facilities to transport the peacekeepers and their equipment, and we are happy to help because peace is coming to Sudan, which is good for our own peace, especially in northern Uganda," Mababazi explained.
He said Pronk`s delegation and Ugandan officials agreed to coordinate their operations and have mapped out possible routes that UN troops will be using, upon landing at Entebbe Airport.
The massive UN deployment follows a unanimous vote by UN Security Council to send 10,000 troops and over 700 civilian police to southern Sudan for an initial period of six months to support the peace agreement between Khartoum and the ex-rebel SPLM/A, which ended more than two decades of civil war.
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