200809102069 | Ugandan LRA Rebels warn DRC against attacks on them

Ugandan LRA Rebels warn DRC against attacks on them

Khartoum - Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army on Tuesday warned against any military operations by Democratic Republic of Congo troops and vowed to act in self-defence.

LRA spokesperson David Nyekorach-Matsanga said reports that DRC troops, backed by the UN mission in Congo (MONUC), would attack its bases in northeast Congo hampered ongoing peace talks aimed at ending a two-decade insurgency.

"It's a provocative act that will not help the peace in northern Uganda," said Matsanga, speaking from the southern Sudanese city of Juba, where peace talks have taken place since 2006.

"We are dismayed and baffled because it has put a spanner in the works of the whole peace process for the past two years," Matsanga added.

"The LRA will not retaliate but will defend itself if attacked," Matsanga said, adding that he had spoken to LRA field commanders early Tuesday in their jungle bases.

"They are watching carefully. They have already shown MONUC in 2006 they are easily capable of over-running any installation," he said, referring to the eight Guatemalan MONUC peacekeepers killed during an operation against rebel bases in 2006.

He said he would deliver a protest letter to the top UN envoy to the region, Joaquim Chisano, and the chief negotiator Riek Machar, the vice president of autonomous southern Sudan.

The rebels were reacting to a BBC news report on Monday that said a military operation was aimed at containing the activities of rebel leader Joseph Kony.

"The operation will last until there is no more danger for the local population in the north of the DRC," UN military spokesperson Jean Paul Deitrich told the BBC.

The rebels are now believed to be based in jungle hide-outs in northeast Congo, along the southern Sudanese border. They have also been accused of attacking villages in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The LRA is accused of having raped and mutilated civilians, forcibly enlisting child soldiers and of massacring thousands during what has been one of Africa's longest-running conflicts.

Kony failed to show up for the signing of a final accord with Kampala in April, saying he needed more information on criminal charges against him and other LRA members, on disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of his fighters.

Renewed attempts to sign the deal have been repeatedly delayed. A meeting on Sunday between Kony and chief negotiator Machar was postponed due to heavy rain, according to Sudanese media.