UPDF deploy around juba

Mar 19, 2002

SUDAN has allowed UPDF officers to deploy in the strategic southern Sudanese city of Juba and the garrison town of Torit as part of the anti-Kony UPDF operation in southern Sudan.

By Emmy Allioin Kitgum SUDAN has allowed UPDF officers to deploy in the strategic southern Sudanese city of Juba and the garrison town of Torit as part of the anti-Kony UPDF operation in southern Sudan.Defence minister Amama Mbabazi said yesterday the operation had not begun but the preparations were in advanced stages.“We are still negotiating some aspects of the operation with Sudan. We shall be briefing the press over the developments,” he said.Sources said UPDF Chief of Logistics and Operations Brig. Julius Oketa is in Juba as an observer.More Ugandan officers are deployed in former camps of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army in Jabalein and Nisitu.On Saturday, Uganda allowed Sudanese liaison officers to visit its anti-Kony tactical headquarters at Ngomoromo on the Sudan border, about 40km north of Kitgum town.The UPDF has big guns, several tanks and thousands of troops in Ngomoromo. Most of the soldiers fought in the DR Congo.More soldiers are deployed in Nimule which is held by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The Sudanese liaison officers visited Nimule and Bibia on Friday.UPDF chief Maj. Gen. James Kazini and the overall operations commander of the anti-Kony mission, Brig. Nyakairima Aronda, moved from Gulu to Ngomoromo on Sunday.Sources said the army went on the offensive on Sunday night and that soldiers have been told to consider all LRA fighters as captives to be rescued. The sudden warming up of relations between the former arch-enemies who have fought proxy wars since 1995, took a dramatic twist on March 5 following a protocol signed in Khartoum that permitted UPDF to pursue Kony up to his bases in southern Sudan. Kony rebels have operated freely in SPLA-held territory in southern Sudan, crossing between SPLA lines to northern Uganda to wreak havoc. Sources said some captive children are sold as slaves. The Sudan put Uganda under pressure to use its influence to warn SPLA not to take advantage of the UPDF presence inside Sudan to launch an offensive. The SPLA has fought various Khartoum regimes since 1983.But sources in Kitgum said the operation may not be that smooth. LRA has abandoned their camp at Lubanga Tek between Torit and Juba and split into smaller groups.Other sources said LRA are often mixed up with the pro-Khartoum Equatoria Defence Forces (EDF) and operate on Imotong hills whose terrain is likely to cause a huge problem to the UPDF. President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday told MPs that Sudan had given Uganda up to April 2 to complete the military offensive. He said the operation was to start on March 18, 2002.Army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told AFP that the offensive, to be launched this week, will allow the Ugandan army to undertake a “limited military operation” against the LRA 100 kilometres (60 miles) inside Sudan, up to the southern regional capital, Juba. He said the time may not be enough.

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