UPDF, Stay In Sudan

UGANDA’S military operation in Southern Sudan is going on well. Since last months UPDF units have been hunting Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. With several of their camps overrun and no support from Sudan government LRA is in its final stages of existence. It is the bases in Southern Sudan that have sustained the rebels 16 years terror attacks on the civilian population in northern Uganda. The scars of the rebellion are glaringly evident in the region. Hundreds of people have been killed, and maimed physically and psychologically in the senseless war. About 400,000 have been uprooted from their homes and now have to put up with inhabitable conditions in the Protected Villages. To the people of northern Uganda the elimination of Kony rebels means the restoration of peace. UPDF should at all costs end this Kony nuisance. Uganda and Sudan last month signed a protocol allowing UPDF inside Sudan. The agreement also provides for coordination and cooperation between the two countries in the war against LRA. So far the offensive has scored a number of successes. Five LRA camps have been overrun and a cache of arms estimated she 3.5b captured.The rebels are now on the run with UPDF in hot pursuit. Unfortunately Uganda’s permission to track Kony rebels inside Sudan expires on Thursday this week.The offensive on LRA should not be constricted by time frame. LRA has long experience in Southern Sudan, and it is deeply entrenched, with better knowledge of the terrain. Therefore UPDF’s longer presence in Southern Sudan is imperative for thorough combing and mop up operations.The Uganda- Sudan protocol should be renewed to allow UPDF to continue with the anti-LRA operation until the rebels are wiped out of Southern Sudan. Ends