OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Wednesday 4.45pm.
TRUCKS full of Ugandan troops were spotted heading for the Democratic Republic of Congo border on Sunday and Monday night, reports in Kampala said on Wednesday.
The troops were thought to be on their way to back rebels fighting to overthrow DRC President Laurent Kabila.
Reports described eight to 10 heavy trucks full of soldiers followed a column of mechanised vehicles, including eight armoured cars and 13 armoured personnel carriers, heading for the DRC border.
The troops are said to have branched off at a road junction about 7km from Arua town and then headed for the Vura customs post on the border of DRC.
Ugandan government officials have consistently denied DRC suggestions that Uganda is supporting the rebels, and maintained that it is committed to good maintaining peace in the Great Lakes region.
* Meanwhile, a Canadian tourist kidnapped by Rwandan rebels last week as she was viewing rare mountain gorillas in the DRC’s Virunga National Park was freed on Tuesday but her three companions remain in captivity. Hutu rebels insisted a statement be read over Ugandan radio when they freed Joan Donaldo.
Donaldo, along with Swedes Ann Charlotte Jonsson and Jens Olsson, and Douglas John of New Zealand went missing on August 11 after they crossed from Uganda into the Virunga National Park.
The Hutu rebels, who are remnants of the former Rwandan Hutu army, have camps in the forests on the volcanic mountain ranges where the borders of DRC, Uganda and Rwanda converge.
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