Submit this form
Home News Videos Music Photos Facebook Twitter Friends Newsletter Podcasts Mobile RSS
Army, UN to monitor rebel move to assembly point


Photo: Euan Denholm/IRIN
Vincent Otti (left) deputy leader of the LRA talks to Jan Egeland (right), the then UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, at Ri-Kwangba near the border between Sudan and the DRC on 12 November, 2006
KAMPALA , 23 April 2007 (IRIN) - Officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army and the United Nations will verify that Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have assembled near the DRC-Sudan border as agreed.

The rebels are expected to assemble at Ri-Kwangba before peace talks resume on Thursday between LRA leaders and Ugandan government officials in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba.

"The FARDC [DRC army], with support from MONUC [the UN mission in DRC], will verify the movement of the LRA to the designated area of Ri-Kwangba," stated a communiqué signed after a meeting in the Ugandan capital of Kampala on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by the Ugandan army commander Gen Aronda Nyakairima, his DRC counterpart Kisempia Sungilanga Lombe, and Babacar Gaye from MONUC.

"Both MONUC and the Congolese army will report any movement to the contrary," the statement added.

A week ago, the Ugandan government and the LRA renewed a ceasefire agreement that expired in February. They also agreed to resume peace talks on 26 April to end a brutal, two-decade insurgency that has wrecked the northern region. 
 
''MONUC and the Congolese army will report any movement to the contrary''
The agreement, reached at a meeting chaired by the UN envoy to areas affected by the conflict, former Mozambique President, Joaquim Chissano, allowed the rebels to assemble in Ri-Kwangba rather than two neutral camps as agreed in earlier ceasefire agreements.

The two armies also mapped out eight measures to promote military cooperation against Ugandan rebel groups and what they called "other negative forces" based in the DRC.
 
Talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government stalled in December when the rebels walked out, saying they feared for their lives. They also demanded a new venue and new mediators, accusing the southern Sudanese government of bias.
 
The talks aim to end a conflict that has raged since 1988, when the elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony took over leadership of a two-year-old regional rebellion among northern Uganda's ethnic Acholi minority. Nearly two million people have been displaced by the conflict.

Related story
 
vm/mw


Related articles


  1. At least 30 dead after massacres in Ituri (March 2, 2018)
  2. Political tensions 'running high' in DR Congo ahead of 2016 elections (October 7, 2015)
  3. DRC Army Putting Pressure on FDLR (April 1, 2015)
  4. Security Council extends UN mission, intervention force in DR Congo for one year (March 28, 2014)
  5. U.S. sending more personnel to Uganda to hunt LRA leader Joseph Kony (March 24, 2014)
  6. New DR Congo amnesty law welcomed by UN envoys (February 5, 2014)
  7. Colonel Mamadou Ndala Is Killed in Ambush (January 2, 2014)
  8. No 'Peace Deal' With Defeated M23 Rebels, DR Congo Says (November 11, 2013)
  9. Congo Will Not Sign a 'Peace Deal' With Defeated M23 Rebels, Government Says (November 6, 2013)
  10. Congo Army Takes Control of Mbuzi Hill From M23 Rebels (November 4, 2013)
  11. Kabila Congratulates Congo Army for Defeating M23 Rebels (October 30, 2013)
  12. Advancing Congo Troops Take Control of Rumangabo From M23 Rebels (October 28, 2013)
  13. Congo Army Liberates Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Kibumba From M23 Rebels (October 27, 2013)
  14. Congo Army Dislodges M23 Rebels From Strategic Town of Kibumba (October 26, 2013)
  15. Ban Ki-moon Confirms M23 Rebels Shelled Rwanda (August 31, 2013)
  16. DR Congo Will Defend Itself Against an Attack by Rwanda, Government Says (August 31, 2013)
  17. M23 Rebels Fired Shells Into Rwanda, Not Congo Army, UN Says (August 30, 2013)
  18. Mortar Shells From Rwanda Kill Civilians in Eastern Congo (August 23, 2013)
  19. Dozens of M23 Rebels Killed by Congo Army in Renewed Fighting (August 22, 2013)
  20. UN Peacekeepers Start Enforcing Security Zone in Eastern Congo (August 1, 2013)
  21. UN Security Council debate focuses on peace efforts for Africa's Great Lakes region (July 25, 2013)
  22. M23 Rebels Said to Flee Rumangabo After Congo Army Airstrikes (July 25, 2013)
  23. Congo Army Strikes M23 Rebels Base At Rumangabo (July 24, 2013)
  24. M23 Rebels in Disarray in Eastern Congo, Says Government Spokesman (July 19, 2013)
  25. 120 M23 Rebels Killed in East, Government Says (July 15, 2013)
  26. U.S. Sanctions M23 Rebel Leaders (December 18, 2012)
  27. Thousands of Women March Against M23 Rebels in Kinshasa (November 24, 2012)
  28. DR Congo Officials Vow to Defend Goma Against M23 Rebels (November 19, 2012)
  29. Congo Government Says Bosco Ntaganda Rebels Trained in Rwanda (June 10, 2012)
  30. Congo Army Advances On Rebels Holdout, Says Official (June 5, 2012)


Live TV Congo Radio en ligne Radio
Available on App Store
Get it on Google Play



Contact Us | About Us | Édition en Français | French Edition

© CongoPlanet.com. All rights reserved.