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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

UGANDA: Army operations resume in north

GULU, 22 April 2003 (IRIN) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has officially torn up a limited ceasefire agreement that was offered to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents at the beginning of March.

After an emergency meeting in the northern town of Gulu with senior army commanders and Presidential Peace Team members on Friday, he ordered a full-scale resumption of Ugandan army operations against rebels in Lapul sub-county, Pader district, where the ceasefire was originally called.

"Following the obstinate refusal of the LRA to positively respond to UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Force] limited cessation of operations in Lapul sub-county, Pader district to allow them to make contact with the government peace team, President Yoweri Museveni has directed the army to resume operations in the area," the statement said.

It added that the move was aimed at "stopping the LRA from using the area as a safe haven, while continuing to murder and terrorise innocent people in northern Uganda".

First Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the peace team, General Salim Saleh, confirmed that there was now no ceasefire.

"The president wants the UPDF to resume full operations without delay," he told IRIN at his home in Gulu. "There is now no ceasefire, although the offer to choose one of the three proposed new zones still stands."

"We are now in a better position to fight," he added.

The decision is a setback for the Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative team (ARLPI), who had been holding talks with rebels and the Presidential Peace Team in an effort to restore confidence in the peace process.

"This will simply add to the deep mistrust the LRA has of the government's intentions," Lam Kosmos, the coordinator of the initiative, told IRIN. "Now they will say to us: 'you see, we told you these people wanted to trap us' ".

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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