Kony has two days to quit Garamba

Jan 28, 2008

THE Chiefs of Defence forces from Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have asked their Congolese counterpart to eject the LRA rebels from their hideout in Garamba National Park by Thursday.

By Henry Mukasa

THE Chiefs of Defence forces from Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have asked their Congolese counterpart to eject the LRA rebels from their hideout in Garamba National Park by Thursday.

The resolution was reached late on Sunday night in Entebbe, after a closed-door meeting of the Tripartite Plus commission, composed of the Great Lakes countries.

“The agreement we reached is that MONUC and the DRC will work as earlier planned and act on Kony by January 31 of this month,” army spokesman Capt. Paddy Ankunda said.

“He has been there for over two years and you can be sure he has re-organised. This is a way of reminding him that his forces are not supposed to be in Garamba but in Ri-Kwangba, where they agreed to assemble as per the Juba agreements.”

The tripartite meeting, convened by the Ugandan army chief, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, was attended by Maj. Gen. Godfrey Niyombare from Burundi, Brig. Gen. Jacques Musemakweri from Rwanda, Lt. Gen. Dieudonné Kayembe from Congo and MONUC force commander Lt. Gen. Babacar Gaye.

According to the communiqué, the Congolese army boss announced that the original plan against the LRA and the ADF rebels had been updated.

The plan, it added, was being reviewed at the on-going ministerial tripartite meeting in Beni, eastern Congo.
The officers agreed that the ministers of defence of the member countries would meet at least three times a year.

They also agreed that formation commanders along the common borders would meet and agree on responsibilities.

They further resolved that each country would post officers at the Joint Planning Cell in Kisangani by March 1.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});