Monday, August 25, 2008

Last week, south Sudan troops attacked Ugandan LRA terrorists on DR Congo border. UN peacekeepers deployed to east DRC after LRA attacks

At an African Union summit in Egypt last month, the top US diplomat for Africa warned that Ugandan LRA leader, Joseph Kony, was re-arming.

Source: Aug 24, 2008 Reuters report, copied here below:
Uganda rebels accuse south Sudan of attack

Sun Aug 24 2008 KAMPALA (Reuters South Africa)

A spokesman for Uganda's fugitive northern rebels accused south Sudanese troops of attacking guerrilla positions on Sunday on the Congo border, preventing a peace meeting.

Officials from the South Sudanese Liberation Army (SPLA) could not immediately be reached for comment, and there was no independent confirmation of the clash.

"Sometime last week there was a skirmish after SPLA attacked our positions," David Nyekorach-Matsanga, a spokesman for Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, said by telephone from the south Sudanese capital Juba.

"We thought that was a mistake. But today they repeated it when they attacked LRA at Nabanga."

He gave no other details, but said a planned meeting in the area between LRA representatives and their elusive leader Joseph Kony had been cancelled.

A two-decade civil war in northern Uganda forced 2 million people from their homes and also destabilised neighbouring parts of oil-producing south Sudan and mineral-rich eastern Congo.

Kony is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Two years of peace talks collapsed in April when he failed to appear on the border to sign a final peace deal.

At an African Union summit in Egypt last month, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa warned that the LRA leader was re-arming.

(Reporting by Frank Nyakairu; editing by Daniel Wallis and Tim Pearce)
Source: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnWAL471739.html
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Map showing Sudan/DR Congo border

Map showing Darfur, Khartoum, Omdurman, Shendi, Abyei

Map courtesy Google news/Aug 2008 archive http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com
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Today, Monday, August 25, 2008, I cross posted this item at Sudan Watch sister sites:
Congo Watch: http://congowatch.blogspot.com
Uganda Watch: http://ugandawatch.blogspot.com
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UPDATE: Monday, August 25, 2008

DR Congo: UN peacekeepers deployed to east after LRA attacks

Aug 20, 2008 (UN News Centre Africa) report 'DR Congo: UN peacekeepers deployed to east after rebel attacks' - excerpt:
United Nations peacekeepers and soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been jointly deployed in the eastern provinces of Ituri and Orientale to protect civilians after attacks by the rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

A spokesman for the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), Michel Bonnardeaux, told a press briefing today that the Ugandan rebel group had attacked and robbed villages around Duru over the past week. He said the Ituri Patriotic Front had also launched sporadic attacks in the Irumu area, and remained a serious threat.

MONUC went on to report further unrest in eastern DRC, including continued regrouping and recruitment by the Mayi-Mayi in North Kivu.
More at Sudan Watch sister sites:

Congo Watch: http://congowatch.blogspot.com/2008/08/dr-congo-un-peacekeepers-deployed-to.html

Uganda Watch: http://ugandawatch.blogspot.com/2008/08/dr-congo-un-peacekeepers-deployed-to.html

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