The Ugandan army said on Wednesday that it had deployed an unspecified number of troops along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prevent incursions by ”negative elements” based there.
”We have made a precautionary deployment along the border on our side especially in areas we think are possible crossing points for some negative elements based in eastern Congo,” told AFP by phone, referring to Ugandan rebel groups alleged based in east DRC.
Also Wednesday, the United Nation mission in DRC, Monuc, reported sighting 100 troops, apparently from Rwanda, in eastern DRC.
Kigali has insisted it will take it upon itself to neutralise extremist Hutu fighters there because the UN and the DRC army have proved unable to disarm them, but on Wednesday refused to either confirm or deny a military presence across the border.
During a devastating 1998-2003 war in DRC, Rwanda and Uganda both sent thousands of troops to DRC to back anti-Kinshasa rebels there.
Referring to the Ugandan rebels in DRC, Bantariza said: ”They are not a great threat but we are following them and picking up some of them one by one.”
The Ugandan government claims that a new rebel group, the People’s Redemption Army (PRA), allegedly founded by renegade Ugandan army officers, was preparing to attack Uganda from the eastern DRC.
”They have taken advantage of the non-existence of the state in much of eastern DRC to move around, though we have not got any information that they have bases there, or that they are in any military formation that points to an attack,” he added.
Last week the army paraded captives that it claimed were PRA members arrested in northern Uganda.
Soon afterward, a Rwandan diplomat accused of working with the PRA was expelled from Uganda, prompting Kigali to throw out a Ugandan official working in the embassy in Kigali. – Sapa-AFP