Who is re-supplying the LRA?

Over the last week there have been a growing number of reports that the LRA has been re-supplied from the air.

The Sudanese government has routinely denied that it is re-supplying the LRA, but the question remains - how are the rebels managing to continue their operations if they have no outside backer?



Map source: BBC report 4 April 2009:
Who is re-supplying the LRA?

Ugandan rebel movement the Lord's Resistance Army, now based in the far north of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is continuing its attacks on civilians in DR Congo and southern Sudan, despite a three-month campaign to hunt the rebels down.

The BBC's Africa analyst, Martin Plaut, looks at how the LRA has survived and considers who might be re-supplying it.

On 14 December last year Ugandan aircraft attacked camps of the LRA in the remote Garamba National Park, in the north-east of the DR Congo.

The operation against the LRA - known as Lightning Thunder - was launched by Uganda, DR Congo and Sudan.

But despite fierce engagements, the rebels have not been defeated and are continuing a series of murderous attacks on civilians.

Around 100,000 Congolese and 60,000 southern Sudanese have been driven from their homes.

Scattered across a vast area of northern Congo and southern Sudan, the continued operations of the Lord's Resistance Army and their leader, Joseph Kony, are perhaps not surprising.

This is an area of dense forests and swamps - ideal territory for rebel attacks.

But what is less easy to understand is how the LRA manages to co-ordinate its ambushes when its forces are so dispersed.

Where do they get the satellite phones they use - as well as the ammunition, food and medicines their forces require?

'Air drops'

Over the last week there have been a growing number of reports that the LRA has been re-supplied from the air.

Late last month there was an attack on the village of Banda, which forced locals to evacuate the area.

This - according to the reports - was designed to clear the area for an air-drop to take place.

There is also the testimony from LRA abductees who managed to escape from the rebels.

They say that air-drops took place in a mountainous area called Karago, west of the town of Aba.

The United Nations mission in Congo, Monuc, says it has heard the rumours, but has no evidence that the air-drops are taking place.

"Our military seem sceptical that the reports are true, given the level of co-ordination that would be required on the ground," Monuc spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai told the BBC.

"But the fact is that we just don't know and often lack reliable, timely, actionable intelligence," he said.

Although there is no confirmation of these reports, they have come from several sources.

So where might the flights have originated?

Southern Sudanese officials have said openly that they believe that Khartoum continues to support the LRA.

The accusation has been denied by the LRA spokesman, David Matsanga, who told the BBC Focus on Africa programme that the suggestion is designed to frustrate attempts to re-launch the peace process.

"The Ugandan government is looking for ways of finishing the situation militarily, because they don't want to talk about what has happened," said Mr Matsanga.

"These accusations are coming now to inflame the situation," he added.

The Sudanese government has routinely denied that it is re-supplying the LRA, but the question remains - how are the rebels managing to continue their operations if they have no outside backer?

Sudanese refugees in Uganda return home - Ikafe camp closes on June 1, 2009

From Ultimate Media 02 April 2009:
Uganda People News: Ikafe refugee camp for closure

Ikafe refugee camp faces closure. John Alinaitwe, the refugee officer at the Prime Minister’s office in charge of West Nile said Ikafe camp closes on June 1st, 2009.

Alinaitwe explains that this camp is set to close because most of the Sudanese refugees who have been occupying it have gone back to Sudan. He tells Ultimate Media that the remaining few Sudanese refugees in this Ikafe camp have been joined with their counterparts residing at Okollo camp in Yumbe district.

Alinaitwe says even Okollo camp could close before the end of this year if the Sudanese refugees there continue to voluntarily return home the way those at Ikafe have done.

He encourages the Sudanese refugees to voluntarily go home saying the donors were now planning to cut down their support for the Sudanese refugees and intending to help Sudanese in their homeland.

Oil discoveries around Uganda's Lake Albert - Bishop sees no return to civil war despite rebel warning

International oil companies operating in Uganda have announced plans to step up production following oil discoveries around Uganda's Lake Albert, which have been reported to be among the largest deposits discovered in the region.

From Ecumenical News International, Nairobi:
UGANDA: Bishop sees no return to civil war despite rebel warning
By Fredrick Nzwili, April 02, 2009

Ugandan Anglican Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng has said he is confident that civil war will not return to the northern part of his country, despite warnings by a rebel leader that the discovery of huge oil reserves in the region might re-ignite fighting.
"This is nonsense. This is propaganda," Onono-Onweng told Ecumenical News International from Gulu in the north of Uganda, in a reference to the rebel leader's comments.

Onono-Onweng, bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda, is part of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, a group of Christian, Muslim and traditional leaders that has worked to bring peace to the region, where the rebel Lord's Resistance Army began fighting 20 years ago.

In 2006, the Ugandan government and the rebels signed a truce, and two years later they signed a cease-fire that stopped short of an all-out peace agreement.

Another church leader, Roman Catholic Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu, noted how the territory had changed since the cease-fire.

"The region remains calm and people are re-adjusting themselves to new life, though not completely. They are still waiting for the formal conclusion of the talks," Odama said.

Still, the LRA's chief negotiator, David Matsanga, told a news conference in Nairobi on March 13 that the discovery of oil in Uganda's northern region could ignite a fresh war.

International oil companies operating in Uganda have announced plans to step up production following oil discoveries around Uganda's Lake Albert, which have been reported to be among the largest deposits discovered in the region.

Tension has been increasing in recent weeks as rebel leader Joseph Kony has repeatedly failed to sign a final peace deal to end the LRA rebellion against the Ugandan government.

Kony and his supporters are holed up in neighboring Congo, and have been the target of a joint military operation by Uganda, Congo and the semi-autonomous region of South Sudan.

This military operation has now wound down but the operation led to a violent backlash by the LRA against hundreds of Congolese civilians.

Despite the uncertainty, Onono-Onweng said he was confident the LRA would not return to northern Uganda.

"How can the rebels defeat three armies? We do not see how they can return," the bishop said.

Uganda Government News: No more peace talks for LRA

The LRA insists the indictments by the International Criminal Court against its top leaders should be dropped before they sign the agreement, while the government of Uganda insists that the LRA must first sign the peace agreement before Uganda can engage the ICC to drop the arrest warrants issued against top LRA leaders.

March 29, 2009 report from Ultimate Media
Uganda Government News: No more peace talks for LRA

The government of Uganda will not consider fresh peace talks with the Lords Resistance Army rebels.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kuteesa says the government of Uganda has done all it can to ensure it signs a peace accord with the LRA rebels but the rebels have failed.

The minister was briefing the ambassadors on successes and challenges of the operation Lightening Thunder to capture or kill Joseph Kony and other LRA leaders that the government embarked on the Garamba forest of DRC on December 14th.

He says although the government did not manage to capture or force LRA leader Kony to sign the comprehensive peace agreement, the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces was able to effectively disable the LRA military and troop capabilities.

Kutesa says operations against the LRA are still continuing, although a large part of the Uganda army came back from the DRC.

He says the government is not considering any other peace talks with the LRA because the peace talks were successfully completed in Juba, a comprehensive agreement arrived at but the LRA leader failed to sign the peace agreement.

The LRA insists the indictments by the International Criminal Court against its top leaders should be dropped before they sign the agreement, while the government of Uganda insists that the LRA must first sign the peace agreement before Uganda can engage the ICC to drop the arrest warrants issued against top LRA leaders.

ICC: Trial of two DR Congo militia leaders, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolom, to open Sept 24

Note that the FPRI was a militia formed towards the end of 2002, with backing from Uganda, according to the ICC charge sheet. Ituri is a mineral-rich district of DR Congo that borders Uganda and Sudan.

Trial of two DR Congo militia leaders to open Sept 24: ICC
Friday, 28 March 2009 report by AFP:

THE HAGUE — The trial of Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo, two former militia leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, will begin on September 24, the International Criminal Court announced Friday.

Both men are charged with having committed war crimes, including using child soldiers and attacking civilians, and crimes against humanity, including murder rape and sexual slavery.

Katanga, 30, also known as "Simba," or lion, is accused of having led the Patriotic Resistance Front in Ituri (FRPI), which operated in the east of the country.

The FPRI was a militia formed towards the end of 2002, with backing from Uganda, according to the ICC charge sheet.

Its members, who belonged to the Lendu and Ngiti ethnic groups, are suspected of having carried out massacres against the Hema ethnic group.

Ngudjolo, 37, is accused of having been the leader of the Nationalist Integrationist Front (FNI), which operated in the same district. The FNI was made up of Lendu fighters.

The charges against both men arise out of a joint attack on the village of Bororo, in Ituri on February 24, 2003, by the two groups they are alleged to have led.

A pre-trial chamber of the court decided earlier this month to join the two cases.

Ituri is a mineral-rich district of DR Congo that borders Uganda and Sudan with a population of between 3.5 and 5.5 million people made up of 18 different ethnic groups.

Britain appeals to Uganda to intervene in Zimbabwe crisis & help in Darfur Sudan

From Africa Press Agency (APA-Kampala, Uganda 11 March 2009:
Britain appeals to Uganda to intervene in Zimbabwe crisis

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has appealed to visiting Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni to intervene in the Zimbabwe situation to provide a road map to the restoration of democracy.

Museveni is the current chairman for the Commonwealth, a 53-member organization of countries formerly colonized by Britain.

According to a press release from State House on Tuesday, Museveni told his host that there was need to give time to the coalition government in Harare to restore full democracy.

Museveni was optimistic that the coalition government in Zimbabwe will help to address the economic problems of that country.

Gordon [Brown] also wanted President Museveni to help in Darfur and to ensure that the Sudanese government implements the comprehensive peace agreement signed between Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army which the Khartoum government has not implemented fully.

Meanwhile, Museveni has condemned the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

In a meeting with Commonwealth secretary general Kamalesh Sharma in London on Tuesday, Museveni strongly condemned the attack during which the players’ bus was sprinkled with bullets on the way to the pitch.

He said that the Commonwealth should condemn all terrorist acts against innocent people. JM/pm/APA

US military provided 17 advisers, $1m in fuel, satellite phones and intelligence for raid on LRA in DR Congo

The US sent 17 advisers from AFRICOM to work with UPDF on Operation Lightning Thunder against LRA in DR Congo.

Source: Sunday Monitor report by Angelo Izama, Kampala 25 February 2009:
US, Uganda to discuss military cooperation

A US military official, Brig. Gen. D. Christopher Leins is in Uganda to discuss military cooperation.

This visit comes in the backdrop of a New York Times article which revealed details of US military assistance to the UPDF in operation “Lightning Thunder”.

The article said, at the request of Uganda, the US sent 17 advisers from its new Africa Command to which Gen. Leins belongs, to work with UPDF on the Garamba operation.

It also said the US military provided a million dollars in fuel as well as satellite phones and intelligence for the operation which it said was personally authorised by ex-US President George Bush.

Yesterday, Army Spokesman, Felix Kulayigye said the UPDF had made no further requests for assistance from the American military and that there was no “on-going” assistance currently to operation Lightning Thunder.

Earlier, the army in a press release said Gen. Leins and the Chief of Defence Forces Gen Aronda Nyakairima, met at the Ministry of Defence Headquarters in Mbuya and discussed mutual cooperation.

In a follow-up interview, Maj. Kulaigye said Lightning Thunder was only mentioned in brief and that the discussion was focused on training assistance for officers.

The US Embassy also said the hunt for Kony had not been discussed.

Amnesty International USA demands that UNMIS tells ICC & MONUC of whereabouts of Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen

From Amnesty International USA
PRESS RELEASE
February 18, 2009

United Nations should not aid fugitives from international justice

Amnesty International is demanding that the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) co-operates with the International Criminal Court (ICC) by providing the whereabouts of Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen to facilitate their arrest and surrender.

In a letter to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Amnesty International expressed its concern that UNMIS were preparing to help return the two men, who are leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), to their native Uganda. Ugandan officials have repeatedly and publicly stated that they will not arrest and surrender the LRA leaders to the ICC.

“UNMIS is bound by the Negotiated Relationship Agreement between the ICC and the UN, which requires that the two bodies cooperate closely with each other,” said Martin Macpherson, Amnesty International’s International Law and Organizations programme. “If UNMIS were to hand the two men over to the Ugandan authorities, the UN would effectively help prevent their arrest and surrender to the ICC and this would amount to an obstruction of justice.”

Amnesty International urges UNMIS immediately to provide the ICC, as well as the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), with all information about the whereabouts of Odhiambo and Ongwen to facilitate their arrest and surrender to the ICC. The same information should be provided to any state that is able and willing to arrest and surrender the suspects to the ICC.

The organization also calls on UNMIS not to facilitate the return of the two men to Uganda unless Uganda pledges to arrest them immediately and surrender them to the ICC.

Background

The arrest warrant for Okot Odhiambo lists 10 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, enslavement and forced enlisting of children. The arrest warrant against Dominic Ongwen lists seven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, enslavement and inhumane acts.

During 2008 and in the past months of 2009, LRA forces are believed to have abducted hundreds of people including women and children, and committed a number of other human rights violations, including unlawful killings, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, southern Sudan and the Central Africa Republic.

A Ugandan Housewife’s Homemade Mobile Phone Charger

From AfriGadget by Erik Hersman 12 Feb 2009:
A Ugandan Housewife’s Homemade Mobile Phone Charger

She uses ordinary size D batteries that are readily available in the village to power radios and torches. She wraped five (5) batteries together, then removed the plug from the phone charger and attached the bare wires to the + and – terminals of the batteries.

Mrs. Muyonjo is a housewife in a remote village of Ivukula in Iganga district, Eastern Uganda. She had a bad experience with a local mobile phone charger, so decided to hack her own solution in response. Read the full story on the Women of Uganda Network’s site.

Why has Kony survived UPDF fire for 22 years?

From The Independent by Matsiko Wa Mucoori & Steven Kibuuka Feb. 11, 2009:

Why has Kony survived UPDF fire for 22 years?

The LRA rebellion dates way back to 1987. It has now lasted about 22 years under Joseph Kony. It’s quite intriguing how Kony, a semi-illiterate man who hardly went beyond Primary Seven and is not a known military strategist, could sustain a rebellion for this long. There are more complex factors that have sustained this rebellion than what we have been hearing.

Before the LRA, there was Uganda People’s Defence Army, a rebel group which had been formed a few months after the NRA (now UPDF) captured power in January 1986. The UPDA, under Maj. Angelo Okello, comprised mainly former soldiers of the defeated Uganda National Liberation Army.

According to a former insider in the UPDA, Many of them had been with Gen. Salim Saleh in the UNLA in early days of the Obote regime before he deserted to join NRA. In 1987, Saleh contacted UPDA for peace talks. When the talks progressed, the UPDA tried to bring the LRA on board to abandon rebellion. The LRA instead shot at the UPDA at the venue of the meeting. Saleh’s efforts to end the northern conflict suffered a blow.

The UPDA finally signed peace with the NRA on June 3, 1988, but the LRA continued what has now become one of Africa’s longest armed conflicts. Why has this rebellion lasted two decades under a man with no proven military skills against expert military strategists/tacticians and the resources of the UPDF?

Gen. Salim Saleh

Causes for the prolonged northern conflict are both social and operational. Some insiders in the security put part of the blame on the NRA. When the NRA entered Kampala, jubilant southerners and the NRA fighters started anti-northern sloganeering like: Nyanya mbaya, nyanya mbaya, nyanya…. Turiwafukuza sehemu za Luwero, turiwanyanyasa, turiwapiga…” It literary meant: “Anyanya are bad, we smoked them out of Luwero…we cornered them and decimated them…” The phrase “anyanya” was a derogatory reference to northerners generally. This sectarian sloganeering bred deep rooted north-south divide under the guise of “patriotic songs.”

The UNLA used these songs to tell people that “these Nyarwanda (NRA had Byanyarwanda fighters) have come to kill us northerners.”

The northern-nominated UNLA had brutalised southerners during the Obote regime. The NRA were predominantly southerners and when they started the counter-insurgency operations in north, their long held anti-northern came into play. The population became hostile and uncooperative to the NRA. The NRA interpreted this hostility to mean sympathy for rebels. They started brutalising civilians. The conflict which had remained only between the NRA and UNLA now widened. The brutality escalated and things fell apart.

The animosity reached irreconcilable levels that even when UPDA signed the peace deal with government, many northerners decided to join Kony’s LRA or just remained hostile to government. To date, this hostility is still reflected in the dismal political support the NRM commands in the north. An insider in the government said that this unfriendly environment has also hampered effectiveness of the military efforts to end the insurgency.

The first major military operation against the LRA was Operation North under Gen. David Tinyefuza between 1990-1991. Tinyefuza, commonly known as ‘Swarzcopf of the North’ because of his ruthlessness during Operation North, cut off the north from the south at Karuma Bridge and declared the northern region a no-go area.

Tinyefuza ordered then prominent politicians like Otema Alimadi (RIP) to leave the north within 48 hours or else be arrested for sabotaging the operation. Politicians Omara Atubo, Zachary Olum and the then Gulu LC5 chairman Prof. Ogenga Latigo were arrested and brought before him. He ordered soldiers to whip and flog them. They were later flown to Kampala on treason charges.

Atubo confirmed to The Independent that he was caned on Gen. Tinyefuza’s orders.

“We were arrested and beaten badly in March 1991 before Tinyefuza because he had convinced Museveni that we were sabotaging the war [military operation] in the north. But what we really disagreed with was the scorched-earth method that Tinyefuza and government were using against our people in the north. This was very absurd,” he said. Atubo is now Minister of Lands in Museveni’s government.

Aswa MP Reagan Okumu, who was then a boy, told The Independent that he witnessed the late Maj. Ikondere, a unit commander, burying 15 youths in a grave he had made them dig. Ikondere accused them of supporting the LRA. “This operation failed because civilians were extremely tortured by the army and in turn started working for rebels. Some even joined the LRA because of torture,” said a source who was close to Operation North.

Uganda rail at crossroads as attention shifts to Dar - US gives Shs 1.8 trillion for rail link from Dar to Kigali

February 11, 2009 report from The Independent by Patrick Kagenda:

US gives Shs 1.8 trillion for rail link from Dar to Kigali

Businessmen and women importing and exporting goods into Uganda often complain about high taxes. But they complain more about the high cost of transport. They say transport costs are the single leading cause of high prices of goods in Uganda.

A 17-ton truck charges US $ 5000(Shs 9.7million) from Mombasa to Kampala or US $ 294.1(Shs 550,000) per ton.
With bad roads and the new axle-load restriction imposed by the government of Kenya late last year, transport costs have soared.

The government has advised business people to shift from importing through Mombasa to Dar-es-Salaam.

But Kasim Omar, the chairman of the Uganda Clearing and Forwarding Agents (UCFA) says they can only use that route when there are glitches on the Mombasa route.

“The Dar route is a long journey and wouldn’t make profit,” he says, “It is only beneficial to exporters.”

But that could change soon.

The Tanzanian government and other southern Africa countries are implementing long-term plans to make the Dar route, also called the Central Corridor route, of rail and road attractive to importers and exporters to the east and southern Africa countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, and South Sudan.

The central corridor has been redundant and it is only recently, after the restrictions at Mombasa port that the business community is opening up to the central corridor.

A road and rail network is planned to link up with the Tanzania-Zambia network to Angola on the south west coast of Africa.
Burundi and Rwanda are planning to complete, in four years, a 500 km road linking them with Tanzania.

The US$ 688 million (Shs 1.3 trillion) project is expected to be funded by the African Development Bank, the World Bank, European Union, China and Saudi Arabia.

But the main attraction, according to the planners will be the wider standard gauge rail that should speed up trains and allow more cargo haulage.

At the centre of the new plan, is the Dar port.

Apart from the derelict road and rail links to the port, the planners have to tackle a stiff congestion problem.

The Dar port has 11 berths as compared to 19 berths at Mombasa.

Recently, up to 5,332 containers were piled up at the port. The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) had to remove some of the bureaucracy blamed for delays in cargo clearing in a bid to clear at least 200 containers daily. The Dar port handled more than 350,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, well over the 250,000 TEUs it was designed for.

The number of containers transiting Tanzania is expected to climb by as much as 1,200 % or about 3 million TEUs in the next 20 years.

The only attraction at Dar-Es-Salaam is the standard tariffs. Both the low contained loads and the uncontained loads have uniform tariffs.

The Tanzanian government plans two new ports on the Indian Ocean coast at Bagamoyo and Tanga. Other ports are at Tanga and Mtwara in the southeast of the country.

Tanzania has already secured US$943,000 from the American government to revamp its 1,000 km central railway line from Dar es Salaam to Isaka in the Shinyanga region. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company of America is to undertake the project. If linked to the Rwandese capital, Kigali, the rail would be the shortest route. The Dar-es-Salaam- Mwanza-Port Bell is 1,581 Kms.

The Dar-Kigali line is planned to use the modern standard gauge rail to increase the speed and tonnage of cargo hauled to the DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.

There is already a 480km tarmac Isaka-Lusahunga road.

The improved rail link, road, and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway operation should greatly ease access to the Southern Africa interior.

Sensing competition, Kenya has its own plans for a road connecting to South Sudan through South Turkana National reserve, Lagpotpot, Kopoeta, Torit, and Ngangala up to Juba.

It plans a second major port on the Indian Ocean at Lamu.

Together with Uganda, it is also planning a modern standard gauge railway network from Mombasa to Kampala to replace the current rail which, after 100 years of service and poor maintenance, has outlived its usefulness.

Uganda hopes to hook onto the new rail project from Kenya at Tororo, in eastern Uganda, with a rail tracing the route of the abandoned northern link to Gulu and stretch it up to Juba. According to Uganda’s Works minister John Byabagambi, the Japanese government has expressed interest in the rail line project.

Uganda is also planning to revive the Kampala-Kasese line and also connect to Rwanda and Eastern DR Congo.

Currently, eastern DR Congo and Southern Sudan use Uganda as a shorter route for them to transit their cargo.

Developments in the regional rail sector have gained momentum since the Kenya and Uganda governments hit a rock with a sour concession deal with Rift Valley Railways three years ago which has now degenerated into a legal battle.

“Whether RVR hides under the law or not, they will have to go, because they have failed to meet our expectations as per the concession agreement,” minister Byabagambi said in an interview.

Failure of RVR’s concession has stalled various funding projects including loans from the Germany Development Bank (KfW) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) the private lending arm of the World Bank.

Experts in regional affairs are pointing at the Chinese as the new likely financiers for the rail because of their growing economic influence in the region.

Chinese are currently involved in rail and road construction and mining in the DRC and in Oil extraction in Sudan and are looking at the new rail as a solution to their quick access to the sea.

Uganda hopes that the current rail and road network, also called the Northern Corridor, remains the most viable route to the sea.
It is the shortest route to the Indian Ocean for both Eastern and Central African nations and turn around time for a train from Kampala running at 80Kms assuming there are no speed limits is one day as compared to the same for the central corridor that would take 4 days to reach the port of Dar-es-salaam.

The fear is that although cargo which transits through Uganda is a very small percentage, if Rwanda, Burundi, the DRC and Southern Sudan stopped cargo transits through Uganda it would hurt the economy.

A transit license costs Shs 300,000 a year per transit cargo truck going through Uganda. Statistics from Uganda clearing and forwarding agents indicate that between 400,000-700,000 Transit Entry Units (TEU`S) to the hinterland passed through Uganda last year. Most of this traffic was from the port of Mombasa and not Dar-Es-Salaam.

Cargo through Mombasa includes all cargo going to Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan and Uganda. The journey from Dar-Es-Salaam to Kampala is over 1,629 kms while it is 820Kms from Mombasa to Kampala.

Experts say, Uganda needs to be prepared for a change in this trade configuration.

British, Ugandan army chiefs discuss volatile DR Congo, Somalia

British, Ugandan army chiefs discuss volatile DR Congo, Somalia
February 11 2009 report by Xinhua from waltainfo.com:

British and Ugandan army chiefs met here on Monday and discussed the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and Somalia, a statement from the Ugandan army said.

According to the statement from the army's spokesman's office, Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of General Staff of the British Army and Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, Chief of Defense Force of Uganda People's Defense Force, discussed Uganda's hunt for rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army in eastern DR Congo and its peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

The statement did not give details of the discussions but said Gen. Dannatt had come to follow up on issues of mutual concern and military cooperation.

This was the first time since Uganda, a former British colony, gained independence in 1962 that a British general of that level visited the country.

Gen. Nyakairima said the Ugandan military has now built up capacity which has enabled it to defend the country and execute pan-African missions.

He told his guest that local problems need local solutions and therefore the need to build the capacity of the Ugandan army, since it plays a significant role in regional stability.

Gen. Dannatt pledged continued cooperation in training and capacity building of the Ugandan army, noting that Britain has historical ties with Africa and has a responsibility to maintain it.