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Dear readers, on the night of June 14 2008, a group of about 30 armed men attacked Nyongwa Village in Southern Sudan, about 25 miles from the Ugandan border. A Sudanese man was abducted and later murdered. His decomposed body was found with stab wounds and head injuries. Food and small household items were looted from the village.
This kind of attack where villagers are abducted, killed and foodstuffs looted have devastated northern Uganda for most of the last 20 years, and are commonly attributed to Kony's rebels, the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA.
However, Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) investigators have now uncovered hard evidence linking this attack to the UPDF. Various reports on Radio Katwe have in the recent past insisted that many of the attrocities committed against the civilian population in northern Uganda were committed by units of the Ugandan army, UPDF.
CHMT was setup two years ago to monitor exactly this kind of incident. Membership includes military officers from a number of African countries like South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, Southern Sudan and even the rebel force itself, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a member.
Reports in Uganda government run New Vision exonerated the UPDF because it is said the attackers withdrew leaving "zigzagging tracks". It was however not explained why this clears the Ugandan army of suspicion, unless the only way UPDF forces move is in clean straight lines. Because for this "evidence" to have credibility, the UPDF must be shown to be incapable of leaving haphazard tracks or living rough, in that rugged countryside.
The attack took place at night so we must assume pitch darkness, as is common in most African villages. But that same article raises further doubts with the claim that a positive identification was quickly made just from descriptions of the attackers as seen by a traumatised victim, the wife of the dead man.
The most telling revelation in the New Vision article however, is when Major Marin Kur Akot of the SPLA is quoted as saying he "concluded the attack was by the LRA". This directly contradicts an official CHMT report of June 22 (Ref: CHMT/OPS/CE-2/06/08) which quotes Major Kur as saying "the items in the bag implicate the UPDF".
About two weeks before this June 14 incident, the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) had passed a resolution "South Sudan parliament condemns rebel LRA atrocities", but it seems this was an expression of their general attitude towards the group, rather than condemnation of specific acts.
But it will now be very diffuclt to know who is behind any further attacks, though major suspicion will fall on the UPDF. President Museveni has openly said he prefers a 'military solution' to the long running conflict. An upsurge in attacks and general violence could be the perfect pretext for him to make the nth effort to 'wipe out' the LRA for the 10th time. Unfortunately, it is not Museveni or his family, but our brothers, sisters and children in the north who have always borne the brunt of this vicious conflict.
We bring you the report below from a newspaper by the names Sudan Tribune of last Friday, where it said that the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) has conducted its investigations and discovered that the UPDF recently killed southern Sudanese civilians while dressed up to look like the LRA when they were the UPDF. Read on:-
South Sudan President Kiir orders Uganda army to withdraw
The Vice-President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Dr Riek Machar Teny said President Salva Kiir had already ordered for the withdrawal of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) from Southern Sudan territory.
In his briefing to the Council of Ministers meeting which he chaired on Friday, Machar said Kiir had already instructed [the Sudan People's Liberation Army] SPLA Chief of Staff, Lt-General Oyai Deng Ajak to communicate the order to his Uganda army counter-part in Kampala.
He said the decision was reached since June 7, 2008 in the Southern Sudan Security Committee meeting chaired by His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit himself.
Machar said he was misquoted by Uganda press that wrongly connected his statement in the Southern Sudan parliament on Monday with the decision of the government to expel the Ugandan army from the territory of Southern Sudan.
He explained that he was just informing the Parliament about the government's decision to expel the UPDF and not him in particular ordering the UPDF to withdraw on that day.
Machar further explained that the decision to expel the UPDF was even reached in his absence while he was still in Khartoum on official mission.
He described the government of Uganda as the "best friend" of Southern Sudan in the region. Machar however pointed out that there was no any operational protocol to keep the UPDF in Southern Sudan, saying they came to Sudan through their agreement with the Khartoum government which expired since 2006. Machar added that the SPLA is now an organized army that should take charge of security in the territory of Southern Sudan.
Ugandan Official Confirms Material Evidences
Reacting to the material evidences found near the dead person by the CHMT [Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team] verification team that implicated the UPDF of the killing in Pageri Payam on 14 June, Machar said the Uganda Consul General in Juba, Busho Ndinyenka, confirmed that the materials found belong to UPDF.
Machar said Busho explained to him that the materials just got lost from the UPDF in pursuit of the LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] in the area.
The vice-president further explained that when the UPDF members of the Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Team (CHMT) reportedly tried to deny the material evidences during the verification exercise the other members from five African countries including the SPLA members confronted the UPDF members with the evidences.
The CHMT membership comprises of military officers from a number of African countries that include Republic of South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Southern Sudan and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
He said the verification exercise was purely an African exercise.
The CHMT was established in accordance with the agreement signed by the Uganda government and the LRA to monitor any violations of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by the two parties in Juba two years ago on 26 August, 2006.
The Team is led by a SPLA senior military officer, Major General Wilson Deng Kuoirot.
The CHMT earlier carried out investigations into the deadly attack on Nabanga Payam in Western Equatoria state in which the report submitted to the Chief Mediator accused the LRA of that incident.
In the verification report submitted to office of the Chief Mediator, the CHMT observed that evidences of materials found at the scene where the body of the killed person was found implicate the UPDF masquerading as LRA.
A document was also found near the dead person with names of suspected UPDF soldiers indicating "Section II, Platoon I, 'A' Coy", with full names and military ranks including army numbers.
The document's source seems to have been obtained from a health centre where the soldiers might have conducted a medical checkup, probably in Uganda.
The CHMT Leader recommends that a further investigation be carried out to identify the culprits and apprehend them.
The Government t of Southern Sudan's Council of Ministers on Friday expressed the necessity to enlighten the press on the decision of the government to expel the UPDF from Southern Sudan, saying it was unfortunate that the press criticized the Vice President as if the decision was reached by him alone.
Readers Comments:
08 Jul 2008
1.
Dear editor let me tell all Ugandans that these South Sudanes people that are talking are not all the same. Rieck macher is Southerner yes but the commander who has been defending UPDF is a Dinga who is from North Wani Iga is Kakwa by tribe.
The Southerners have come to see the light, these people started working with us who come from West Nile before M7 came to Ug, during Anyanya 1 under the leadership of Joseph Lagu who is Madi. So please let them sort out their own problems please. We from Arua shall continue to stay with them for ever they are our brothers.
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