UN urged by Uganda to rout out LRA from Sudan, DRC

China's Xinhua reports the Ugandan government has appealed to the UN and the international community to rally behind its efforts to rout out the rebels currently hiding in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to a report from the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) Radio on Sunday, the call was made by Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa at the UN Security Council meeting.

Kutesa told the meeting that a group of Ugandan rebels continue to terrorize innocent people in northern Uganda, Sudan and the DRC.

LRA: The global low profile and lethal terrorist group

Note opinion piece by Steve Paterno, a Sudanese residing in the US: Ugandan LRA: The global low profile and lethal terrorist group courtesy Sudan Tribune 23 Jan 2006. Excerpt:

"...So if this is the case, why then does the US State Department not use its diplomatic influence to pressure the regime in Khartoum to at least cut its support for the LRA? ..."

EU, Commonwealth to monitor Uganda's general elections

Uganda's Electoral Commission said the European Union and the Commonwealth will send 170 observers for the country's forthcoming general elections, the highest number of observer the country has ever had.

Full report (Xinhuanet) 25 Jan 2006.

Uganda tells UN it wants to fight rebels in E Congo too

The Ugandan military is ready to "deal with" rebels in neighboring Congo who killed eight U.N. soldiers this week, President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday.

"We told the U.N. they should allow us to go and deal with them in Congo, because we know how to fight those criminals," Museveni said during celebrations at an airfield marking two decades since his National Resistance Movement seized power.

"They didn't listen to us," he added.

"The other day I saw (the LRA) had killed some of their people ... We are ready, if the Congolese government and the U.N. want us to deal with that issue, we shall deal with it."

He thanked the Sudanese government and former rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army for letting Ugandan troops operate in southern Sudan, where the LRA has hideouts.

Full report CNN Jan 26, 2006.



Photo: Workers in Uganda Tuesday offload caskets holding bodies of UN peacekeepers killed in the Congo. (AFP/CNN)

BBC World Service Trust launches radio project in Darfur

Good news from the BBC in a Press Release 23 Jan 2006:

BBC World Service Trust has launched "Darfur Salaam", a humanitarian radio programme for Darfur in Sudan to be broadcast at 8.00am local time on the new BBC frequency of 11820 kHz and repeated at 8.00pm on 9640 kHz.

The first edition aired on Friday 20 January 2006.



Photo: Darfur lifeline radio production team. This great project is being funded by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and the Ford Foundation.

For further information visit the BBC World Service Trust website:
www.bbcworldservicetrust.org

2,000 Sudanese cross into Kyangwali, Uganda to seek water

Almost 2,000 people of the Teposa Group in southern Sudan have crossed the border and are reported to be encroaching on Kidepo Valley National Park in northern Uganda with over 60,000 domestic animals, reported Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Radio on Tuesday.



Photo: Sudanese refugees arriving at Kyangwali settlement in Uganda after being displaced from their original camp in Achol Pii.

The Teposa encroachers are reported to have entered 15 km inside the park early December last year and by January 5, they had not vacated despite efforts by the Uganda Wildlife Authorities (UWA) to push them out.

UWA public relations manager Lillian Nsubuga was quoted as saying that the encroachers entered with 40,000 heads of cattle, 2,000 goats, 10,000 sheep and 5,000 donkeys in search of water.

Nsubuga said that the chief warden of Kidepo Valley National Park Kuloao Okwongo met with the Sudanese commissioner on January 12 to discuss the matter.

On January 13, the Sudanese commissioner visited the encroachers kraals to convince them leave the park, because there are many water bodies outside to feed their animals, but up to now they have not left, the report added. - Xinhua/ST January 17, 2006.

Africa's rebels take their battles online

Washington Post article by Emily Wax 14 January 2006.

[via The Blog Herald with thanks]

Joseph Kony: A monster at large

Africa is full of characters who create mayhem at home while remaining completely unknown abroad. Let me introduce you to a particular bugbear of mine.

You may not have heard of Joseph Kony, but he is the biggest mass murderer at large in the world today, bar none. Kony leads the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group that has terrorised northern Uganda for almost 20 years.

What makes him uniquely odious is that his guerrillas are abducted children. By brainwashing, torturing and brutalising his innocent victims, Kony has created a child army that has devastated a swathe of Africa.

At least 20,000 children have disappeared into Kony's clutches. He has forced about 1.5 million people - virtually the entire rural population of northern Uganda - to flee their villages for squalid refugee camps. And tens of thousands have died.

Read full story by David Blair, Telegraph UK, Jan 11, 2006.

MSF list of ten most under-reported stories of last year

What we should worry about, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres:

Chechnya
Northern Uganda
Northeastern India
Congo
Colombia
Southern Sudan
Ivory Coast
Somalia
Haiti
HIV/AIDS

Those are the ten most under-reported stories of last year.

Read full story at Contango: Our responsibility.

Uganda cracks down on foreign journalists

Uganda's government has refused to renew the media accreditation for a Canadian journalist, and given only temporary clearance to a British reporter, in an apparent crackdown on foreign journalists.

The crackdown comes before the country's national elections, set for next month. Full story News 24 (SA) 14 Jan 2006.

UN Rights Chief condemns Uganda's military and rebels

AP report via Coalition for Darfur: U.N. human rights chief said Thursday, during a weeklong visit to Uganda starting Jan 7, that while northern rebels have been responsible for atrocities, the army also has violated Ugandans' rights and in doing so breached the trust between a government and its people.

Nile basin journalists pledge to transform river into brotherhood blood line

Members of the press from the nine Nile basin countries together with other stakeholders of the River Nile oriented organizations, who recently met in Egypt have come up with what is now known as 'The Alexandria agreement' through which they all pledged to transform the world's largest river into a 'brotherhood' blood line to join about ten countries located along the Nile River.

Digimotion Digital Album Blogged

See my latest entry at Sudan Watch: Digimotion Digital Album - Powerful stuff, check it out.

Museveni rival on campaign trail

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye criticises the president in his first rallies since being released from jail.

Dr Besigye is due to appear in court later this week to face further charges of treason and rape. He has denied the charges saying they are politically motivated. Full story (BBC) 4 January 2006.

Kizza Besigye, Museveni's election rival released

BBC confirms Uganda's High Court has released on bail opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who is running in elections next month:

The BBC's Will Ross says the court ruling was a victory for Dr Besigye's lawyers, but there are many battles ahead. It is possible that despite the judge's ruling, the military will move to re-arrest him because the military court has stated that it is not subordinate to the High Court.