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Kampala UPDF infantry forces were last night closing in on the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army bases that were air bombed on Sunday even as the government announced in Kampala that the door remained open to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Troops were by yesterday crawling through the dense jungles of north east Democratic Republic of Congo in pursuit of rebel leader Joseph Kony and his fighters as ‘Operation Lightning Thunder’ entered day two. No details of casualties were available by press time following the Sunday raid which the UPDF carried out in conjunction with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo forces.
“We suspect Kony was in one of the areas (we bombed),” a spokesman for the operation, Capt. Chris Magezi, told Daily Monitor via satellite telephone link from Dungu in DR Congo, the temporary tactical base for the UPDF. “We have information the rebels were moving alone leaving their families, so we targeted the fighters’ bases to avoid killing their wives and children.” Uganda’s nearest border point to Dungu is Arua, several hundred kilometres to the west. Brig. Patrick Kankiriho is the overall operations commander deputised by the Air Force Chief of Staff, Col. Moses Rwakitarate and Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the commander of the recently-created Special Forces. Kony’s whereabouts were unknown by last night although Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, who headed the government team to the failed talks, said in Kampala that the rebel leader was trying to sneak into the Central African Republic. Addressing delegates to the 10th anniversary of the International Law Institute in Kampala, Dr Rugunda, who was last week named Uganda’s new envoy to the United Nations, said the military offensive had been launched after Kony failed to sign a peace deal on November 30. “Uganda has tried its best to bring this war to an end,” Dr Rugunda said. “We even took this matter to [the International Criminal Court] knowing that it would help us but up to now the ICC has failed to resolve this matter. Several other attempts have been made but Kony has refused to sign. We have now included a new element of seeking peace and I think he has heard it already.” Dr Rugunda added, “Kony may have refused to listen to the language spoken to him in Juba but I am sure he has listened to the language spoken to him by the UPDF.” The government official said, “The government has not closed the door for peace. You will agree with me that Kony needs to be pushed into signing the deal. Yesterday’s action was meant to accelerate the signing process. UPDF spokesman Maj. Paddy Ankunda told Reuters news agency yesterday that the army had “reliable intelligence” that the LRA rebels “were preparing to attack Uganda.” Kinshasa, Kampala and Juba agreed earlier this year to launch joint military operations against the insurgents but South Sudan’s army spokesman, Peter Parnyang, said its soldiers would not cross into Congo to chase the LRA. Kony’s fighters were harried by the UPDF into southern Sudan, where they were used as a proxy force to fight Sudanese rebels battling Khartoum’s central government. In 2005, when the Sudanese civil war ended, Kony quit his southern hideouts and moved to Congo. The 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in the Congo said no decision had been taken on what role it would play in the new offensive against Kony. “It is really unfortunate that the Commander-in-Chief has turned it into a custom to send our troops outside the Ugandan territory without following the proper channels,” FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu said yesterday. “The Constitution says that if our soldiers are to leave the soil of Uganda, they have to be sanctioned by Parliament and we haven’t t seen Parliament doing so,” he added. Mr Oguttu said FDC favours a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/UPDF_close_in_on_Kony_s_base_76914.shtml |
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