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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC-UGANDA: Some 400 rebels in northeast surrender to Ugandan army
NAIROBI, 26 March 2003 (IRIN) - The Ugandan army has said that between 401 and 425 fighters of Thomas Lubanga’s rebel Union des patriotes congolais (UPC), which it expelled from Bunia on 6 March, have surrendered because they want to participate in the peace process.
Argence France-Presse and the Ugandan government-owned newspaper, The New Vision, reported that representatives of the group, which had been active in the Ituri District of Orientale Province, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, announced their surrender after meeting officials of the Uganda People's Defence Forces in Bundibugyo last weekend. The Congolese rebels included “Major” Kyaligonza, the UPC's overall commander in Bunia. The UPC was once allied to Uganda.
The New Vision reported on Wednesday that the rebels had defected because they believed that Lubanga was misleading them. The UPC refused to sign the Ituri Cessation of Hostilities Agreement reached on 18 March between rival governments, political, ethnic and militia groups.
The Ugandan army has said it will stay in Bunia until 24 April, when an Ituri Pacification Commission is expected to have been set up.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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