 |
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
UGANDA: Gov't says LRA killed army officer, demands action
KAMPALA, 18 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - The Ugandan government on Wednesday demanded that mediators in its peace talks with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) take action against the rebel group, accusing it of killing a senior military officer in an ambush in southern Sudan.
The Vice-President of Southern Sudan, Riek Machar, is heading a mediation team trying to broker a peace deal between Ugandan authorities and the LRA, an insurgency widely accused of committing atrocities against civilians in northern Uganda during the past two decades.
The minister of state for defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, told reporters in Kampala that Capt Sam Mugalula, the training and operations officer of the 19th Battalion, based in southern Sudan, was shot through the head on Tuesday.
"Captain Sam Mugalula was yesterday [Tuesday] on his way to his unit headquarters when he was ambushed by the LRA, 115 kilometres northwest of Owiny Ki-Bul [LRA assembly point] and 30 kilometres southwest of Juba [capital of southern Sudan, where the talks are being held]," she said. "This is a blatant violation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which is a major concern for the Ugandan government and the people of Uganda," she said, adding that Uganda had lodged a complaint with mediators.
LRA representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Ugandan troops were first deployed in southern Sudan in 2002, with the approval of the Sudanese government, to pursue LRA fighters, who used to carry out cross-border raids into northern Uganda from bases in Sudanese territory.
Capt Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Ugandan delegation at the peace talks in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, said the lorry carrying Ugandan soldiers came under attack when it got stuck in rough terrain at a place called Liliya.
"They [the troops] disembarked from the truck and Captain Mugalula walked ahead with two escorts. That is when they encountered a deliberate ambush and he was shot dead," said Ankunda.
"We have written to the mediator that this is unacceptable and must stop," he said, adding that he believed the peace talks should still go ahead.
"We think the talks should continue," Ankunda said.
The Ugandan government protest came a day after the LRA demanded an urgent review of the ceasefire agreement, claiming that the army had on Monday opened fire on rebel fighters on their way to an assembly point in southern Sudan.
Both parties signed a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement on 26 August in a bid to create an atmosphere conducive to peace talks.
vm/jn/mw
[ENDS]
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
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
