LRA rebels agree to assemble

By Henry Mukasa
In Juba and Emmy Allio

THE LRA wants its troops to assemble in Ri-Kwangba in Western Equatorial State, its delegates to the Juba talks said yesterday. They said the troops would include all those in Eastern Equatorial State who were supposed to assemble in Owiny-Kibul.

The latest condition follows the rebels recent refusal to assemble in Owiny-Kibul because the UPDF had reportedly deployed there.
However, a ceasefire monitoring team made up of LRA and UPDF officers cleared UPDF of deploying in Owiny-Kibul.
Capt Paddy Ankunda, the UPDF spokesman at the Juba talks, said, “This new condition by LRA has startled us. We suspected that they wanted to cross the Nile to join the main group in Garamba.”
Military sources said when about 200 LRA rebels led by Dominic Ongwen and Caesar Acellam failed to cross the Nile last week, “they resorted to attacking the UPDF and civilians as a diversion. They wanted to draw attention away from the Nile so that they could cross.”
Meanwhile, a convoy of truckloads of merchandise and produce from Uganda travelling on the ill-fated Nimule Road snaked into Juba yesterday morning to the relief of traders and vendors.
Entry of vehicles into South Sudan, unescorted, was halted after three days of gruesome ambushes between Nimule and Gumbo. In the attacks blamed on armed gangs bent on undermining the Government of South Sudan, 38 people were killed and eight vehicles burnt.
The convoy entered Juba at 8:00am drenched in rain under heavily-armed SPLA guard backed by two mambas.
SPLA’s Maj. Gen. Wilson Deng said the escort was precautionary. “It’s not a heavily guarded convoy. It’s a formality otherwise there’s no threat on the road. For me the road is safe,” he said. Deng chairs the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) for the LRA talks in Juba.
Deng said under normal circumstances, a lorry takes four hours to travel from Nimule to Juba and three hours for saloon cars. “The convoy takes five hours,” he said.
Ankunda (right) welcomed the security measure. “The idea of the convoy is good because it worked well for us when the rebels were terrorising northern Uganda. The Government of South Sudan should adopt it,” he said.
He added, “Where we operate, we shall secure the areas when asked and advise on road security.”
A woman traveller identified as Leyla said they were held up in Nimule for three days.
“We have just arrived. I need to reach my brother’s place and freshen up so that I go for Idd prayers. I have to thank Allah for my safety,” she said.
The attacks on Wednesday and Thursday went on till night. Sporadic gunfire could be heard from Juba.
South Sudan president Salva Kiir condemned the attacks. He was meeting President Yoweri Museveni who visited Juba on Saturday.
He said, “Your Excellency, you are visiting us when some elements are trying to undermine the peace that we achieved at a high cost. We will not let that happen.”
Museveni said, “The black people of South Sudan and Uganda will triumph.” South Sudan’s military on Sunday arrested 15 people in connection to the attacks. “We killed two when they fired at us,” said Deng.
“All were Sudanese attempting to attack a village near Juba. It is not established whether it was they who did the ambush, but we are investigating,” Deng said.
He suspected the men were “elements of (Arabic-speaking northern) Sudan Armed Forces.”

“They were speaking Arabic. They were pretending to be LRA to attack and loot civilians,” he said.
Residents fled in droves from Gumbo and the neighbouring villages to Juba.

Columns of fear-stricken residents carrying heavy loads of luggage crossed Juba bridge to the city centre.