The Ugandan government and northern rebels on Wednesday traded barbs ahead of a midnight truce expiry, raising fears of fresh clashes that could wipe out a stalled peace process to end two decades of war.
The rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) vowed not to renew the truce and to counter army raids a day after President Yoweri Museveni threatened to attack any insurgents on Ugandan soil after the truce runs out on Wednesday at midnight local time.
“We are not going to renew the truce because there are no peace talks at the moment. But if we are attacked, we shall retaliate and then continue fighting,” LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti told Agence France-Presse by satellite phone from the south Sudan-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border.
“We feel like we want to negotiate peace with the government, but if Museveni refuses to talk, we shall go back to the barrel of the gun and fight a prolonged war.”
The rebels themselves pulled out of peace talks in south Sudan’s capital Juba in December, requesting a new venue and mediation after they lost trust in the southern Sudanese mediators.
The Ugandan army said on Wednesday that its troops were scouting the volatile north of the country in search of the rebels, accused of horrific brutality against civilians.
“We are patrolling the ground and if the LRA comes here, we shall hit them,” Lieutenant Chris Magezi, army spokesperson in northern Uganda, said.
“Otti is a terrorist and he will remain one until he embraces the peace process.”
Alongside LRA supremo Joseph Kony and three other commanders, Otti has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes and against humanity.
The ceasefire, signed in August and renewed last December, raised hope of an end to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced about two million others.
Some of the rebels and their leaders are currently believed to be hiding in parts of southern Sudan and DRC, while others are said to be heading to the Central African Republic.
The conflict has raged since 1988, when the elusive Kony took charge of a two-year-old regional rebellion among northern Uganda’s ethnic Acholi minority, sparking what aid groups have described as the world’s most neglected conflict. — AFP