/ 25 June 2001

UGANDAN TROOPS OVERRUN REBEL CAMP

UGANDAN troops have overrun a camp of northern Ugandan rebels inside Sudan, killing 22 rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Ugandan military commander Brigadier Henry Tumukunde said on Sunday . Tumukunde said Ugandan troops crossed some 20 kilometres into Sudan on Wednesday and attacked a small LRA camp at the village of Lumarati. A cache of arms was recovered in the attack, he said. Tumukunde said a group of about 60 rebels, under the command of LRA leader Joseph Kony, had been intending to enter Uganda to disrupt a peace initiative, which began on June 2. The group launched its rebellion in 1988 to overthrow the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and to establish a state based upon biblical law. The LRA abducts Ugandans, mainly children, to fight as soldiers against the Ugandan government. The southern Sudan serves as a hub for launching kidnapping raids into Uganda. The LRA has captured some 10,000 children since 1995 with the boys becoming soldiers and the girls prostitutes. – AFP