Kampala | Tuesday
UGANDA has redeployed troops inside Sudan to counter a new attack by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in an operation being overseen by President Yoweri Museveni, a Ugandan army representative said on Monday.
The representative, Major Shaban Bantariza, said that Ugandan units were patrolling a sprawling area along the Uganda-Sudan border in pursuit of what he said was ”a mobile enemy which moves in small groups.”
”They (the LRA) have been moving from east to west along the border and vice versa in an apparent attempt to re-enter Uganda, either through West Nile or Kidepo National Park,” Bantariza said.
Museveni, himself an army lieutenant general, is at the border to assess the security situation and give a morale boost to his fighters, the representative said.
Without giving the exact figure inside Sudan, Bantariza said that up to two battalions had been deployed, with some of the soldiers camped inside Uganda waiting to reinforce those across the border patrolling areas in southern Sudan, in case the need arises.
A battalion in Uganda comprises between 600 to 800 soldiers.
”I cannot tell you which parts of Sudan they are patrolling, but for sure we have troops inside Sudan,” Bantariza added.
The troops face hundreds of rebels commanded by Museveni’s long-time nemesis Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA.
Uganda military sources say that although Kony has lost the key support of the Sudanese government, a militia organisation calling itself the Equatoria Defence Force (EDF), which is also armed by Khartoum to fight the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) of Colonel John Garang, had become the LRA’s main backer.
The SPLA has been fighting Khartoum since 1983 to end domination of mainly Christian and animist southern Sudan by the Arabised, Muslim north.
Uganda’s current military operations inside Sudan seem to have the blessings of Khartoum, whose relationship with Kampala has lately thawed.
Last week, Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi said Kampala and Khartoum were in talks to find ways to handle the instability in the two countries.
The Ugandan deployment follows an attack on Agoro in Lamwo county of Kitgum district, some 430 kilometres north of Kampala on February 23, during which three people were killed, including a government soldier.
The Ugandan army pursued the rebels into Sudan, killing 80 of them. It also rescued 80 abducted civilians.
The army lost three soldiers, including a senior officer, in the battles before returning to Uganda on March 4. – Sapa-AFP