/ 15 December 2008

Rebels bigger threat than Uganda, says DRC

The threat of Ugandan rebels on its soil overcame the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) differences with Uganda, a Kinshasa government spokesperson said Monday, a day after a joint attack on the insurgents.

”The goal was so important that we made a deal with the Ugandans, even if we have not always been in agreement in the past,” spokesperson Lambert Mende said.

Uganda and DRC, along with forces from southern Sudan, launched a joint military operation on Sunday against Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in eastern DRC, a statement signed by their respective chiefs of military intelligence said.

LRA chief Joseph Kony and his top lieutenants have frustrated recent efforts to finalise a deal bringing a definitive end to Uganda’s civil war and continued to commit atrocities in neighbouring countries.

”The three armed forces successfully attacked the main body and destroyed the main camp of Kony code-named camp Swahili, setting it on fire,” the statement went on.

The military chiefs did not provide details on the rebel leader’s fate but said the operation was ongoing.

”Our three governments decided on a joint strike to eradicate this breeding ground of terrorists who take our people hostage and particularly our children,” Mende said.

”In view of the seriousness of the threat” and ”for that operation alone, we accepted” the deployment of Ugandan troops on Congolese soil, he said.

Relations between Kampala and Kinshasa have been strained since the 1998-2003 war in the former Zaire, when Uganda sent troops in support of rebel movements.

The two countries renewed diplomatic relations a year ago, and a government source said it had taken since then to improve ties sufficiently for military cooperation.

Ugandan army spokesperson Major Paddy Ankunda said efforts to reach a final peace deal with the LRA were suspended after Sunday’s raid.

”We are attacking the camps. So for now the peace process is off,” he said. But he added: ”We still think that if there is an opportunity to re-open negotiations we will do it.”

Kony has repeatedly refused to ink the final deal, citing warrants against him and his lieutenants by the International Criminal Court, and balked at the latest attempt on November 29.

LRA spokesperson David Nyekorach-Matsanga condemned the attack but said they were still committed to peace.

”Yesterday’s attack was regrettable and will not solve the problems of northern Uganda, but the LRA is not going to retaliate,” Nyekorach-Matsanga said, adding that he had complained to mediators.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in the two decades of fighting between Kony’s LRA and the government. — Sapa-AFP