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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
UGANDA: Gov't rejects rebel demand for reconstituted army
KAMPALA, 22 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - The Ugandan government has rejected a demand by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) for a reduction in the size of the army and the induction of rebel fighters into the military when a final peace deal is struck.
During talks in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, the LRA had on Monday said reconstituting the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF) was the only way to achieve lasting stability in the country. "Uganda shall constitute and build a new national army that guarantees security, peace and sustainable prosperity of the people of Uganda," according to a LRA position paper presented to southern Sudanese mediators.
The rebel group claimed that the government army stood at 100,000 troops and demanded that the force be scaled back to 30,000 soldiers, comprising 20,000 from the UPDF and 10,000 from the LRA.
"The demand is simply diversionary and we shall not even consider discussing it. The LRA should only stick to issues on the agenda," said Robert Kabushenga, a member of the Peace Support Group, a government technical team in Kampala supporting the delegation in Juba.
Officials in Kampala said the Ugandan army had been cut from 100,000 to 50,000 in 1991 and 1992 following complaints from donors that the country was spending too much on the military.
"What the LRA is asking for is for the UPDF to be basically disbanded. This is really ridiculous," Lieutenant Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the government delegation, told IRIN by telephone from Juba. "The UPDF was set up according to the constitution, so what the rebels seem to suggest is for us to throw out the constitution, which we cannot do," he added.
Last week, the government rejected a rebel demand that South Africa send a senior official to help mediate in the peace talks.
The talks, which began in July but have faltered several times, are aimed at ending northern Uganda's 21-year civil war, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands and displaced nearly two million people.
The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, who has said Uganda should be governed according to the Ten Commandments. Thousands of children have been abducted and forced either to fight alongside Kony's troops against the Ugandan army or become concubines to rebel commanders.
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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
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